» Latest Status of the Strike, Most current news

From CFRA

I seriously doubt it'll be another two weeks....

The city will probably add another thing to the bargaining table just as an excuse to make the strike longer, and give tax cuts to the rich people. First off, what we need to do is kick the Bald guy out of his spot, and put someone that doesn't have an IQ of a rat.

Just my opinion on the situation.

From CFRA

Finally a true story

Strike, Week Seven

From Atv.

Feds won't legislate OC Transpo workers back to work

The federal labour minister says she will not legislate striking OC Transpo workers back to work.

Rather, Rona Ambrose says it's up to both sides to return to the bargaining table.

"The quickest way for buses to get back on the streets is for both of these parties, both the union and the city, to get back to the table and come up with a negotiated agreement," Ambrose said on Wednesday.

"If they so choose, they could have buses back on the street quite quickly, so it's the responsibility of both these parties to get back to work."

Now, for the first time since Christmas, both sides are talking with a mediator.

"Since last week, the parties have held informal discussions with the federal mediators in effort to keep a dialogue open on a possible settlement. The parties have also agreed to a media blackout regarding these discussions," said Mayor Larry O'Brien.

During an emergency meeting Wednesday afternoon, Ottawa city council approved $500,000 in additional funding to help people who need emergency transportation or are at risk of losing their jobs.

A $200,000 emergency fund ran out in just 10 days and social agencies have barely been able to keep up with the demand.

"It's not possible for everybody, but we're trying as much as possible for those who have a need, to ensure at least basic needs are met. Critical ones are medical appointments first and making sure you have enough food or things of that nature,' said Coun. Marianne Wilkinson.

Still, many Ottawa residents say the transit strike is wearing them down.

"I feel very isolated. I cannot visit any friends. I feel held hostage right now," Hanna Schoots told CTV Ottawa.

"I feel lonely because I'm an immigrant. I don't have a family. I don't have a support system, so sometimes I feel very depressed."

Although the city is offering services to residents who are unable to get to medical appointments, Schoots says her request to get a ride to visit her family doctor was turned down.

"They told me it's not important to help me to go to the doctor's appointment because it was just a family doctor that they are only doing emergencies to see a specialist," Schoots said.

Contract talks between the two sides broke off Dec. 23. The main sticking point of the contract dispute remains bus driver scheduling.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Vanessa Lee

Even back-channel talks break down in transit strike

OTTAWA • Relations between the city and its striking transit union are so bad that even informal, federally mediated talks have broken down, with each side blaming the other for the impasse.

The talks, aimed at finding a way to end the 46-day transit strike, failed Friday afternoon.

In a note to city council announcing the failure, Mayor Larry O’Brien put the blame squarely on the union.

“The federal mediator has suggested that since the parties continue to be so far apart on their demands there is no benefit in continuing mediated talks at this time,” the mayor said.

“The City remains committed to achieving a negotiated settlement with the striking ATU Local 279, but after days of talks they have been unwilling to negotiate on any position. More importantly the union has put additional demands on the table effectively moving us farther apart from achieving a settlement.”

The mayor said the city’s bargaining team will give city council a full update on the issues and the two sides' positions at a special council meeting Monday.

“People are fed up,” Innes Councillor Rainer Bloess said Friday. “The frustration is building, and at a point it’s a situation that becomes unbearable for the city. We’re hearing it.”

Bay Councillor Alex Cullen, who chairs city council's transit committee, said at the start of the strike most people urged councillors to hold the line in their dispute with 2,300 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279, no matter how long it takes.

Mr. Cullen said there are still people urging council to do so, but that after six-and-a-half weeks with no transit service, these people are in the minority now.

“People are getting more and more concerned about the effect this is having on the city, and they are letting their elected representatives know it,” Bay Councillor Alex Cullen said. “A majority of people want to see the strike end, and many don’t care how,” he said. “We want it to end too, but not on any terms.”

Mr. Bloess said the reaction he’s getting from the public is that they want the strike to end, but that the city “shouldn’t be giving away the farm.” He added that, like the public, council members are growing tired of dealing with the strike.

“Councillors are sick of it, too,” he said. “We didn’t want this strike on Day 1, and we even more don’t want it now.”

Rideau-Vanier Councillor Georges Bédard said citizens and businesses in his ward, relying heavily on public transit, are feeling the pain and letting it be known they want it to end.

“People are suffering as this goes on,” he said. “No one is in a win situation here, and that’s why we need to get back to the table and deal with these issues.”

The fallout from the strike is clear: people are quitting school, losing jobs, missing medical appointments, businesses are suffering, the pace of regular work at city hall is being hampered, and daily commutes for many are difficult, if not extreme.

There have been no formal talks between the two sides since Dec. 23, and no talks are scheduled.

The strike was called on Dec. 10 when talks broke off over city demands to change the way drivers are scheduled and assigned routes, the hours of work, and working conditions. Other outstanding issues include wages, accounting for sick days, and contracting out language.

The union has said it would end the strike if the city agreed to put the issues that led to the strike into a non-binding mediation-like process, and go to binding arbitration on the rest. The city has offered to go to binding arbitration on all issues, if the union agrees that any final settlement would be within financial parameters set by the city.

© Copyright © The Ottawa Citizen

Public calls on God, council to help end transit strike.

OTTAWA-Relations between the city and its striking transit union are so bad that even informal, federally mediated talks have broken down with each side blaming the other for the impasse.

The talks, aimed at finding a way to end the 46-day transit strike, failed Friday afternoon.

In a note to city council Friday announcing the failure, Mayor Larry O’Brien put the blame squarely on the union.

“The federal mediator has suggested that since the parties continue to be so far apart on their demands there is no benefit in continuing mediated talks at this time,” the mayor wrote.

A special city council meeting has been scheduled for Saturday.

The breakdown in talks has the public calling on councillors and calling on God.

About 35 people attended a special prayer service Friday night at St. Joseph’s Parish on Laurier Avenue East in downtown Ottawa.

“We were trying to think of a way we could respond,” said pastoral associate Mary Murphy. “A prayer service seemed the most logical because it is based in faith and we believe faith can make a difference.

“We’re hearing from people not getting enough food, isolated people, people on assistance. A lot of people are very tired,” she said. “We’re hearing about someone working part-time in retail paying $12 a day to get to and from work.”

Father Roy Boucher, the Oblate Superior for the Ontario Oblates, added: “It’s really an expression of our solidarity for the many who are impacted and suffering and a prayer that we can resolve the situation.”

Meanwhile, city councillors said Friday that as the strike drags on, public pressure to settle the dispute is mounting.

“People are fed up,” Innes Councillor Rainer Bloess said. “The frustration is building, and at a point where it’s a situation that becomes unbearable for the city. We’re hearing it.”

Mr. O’Brien said the city remains committed to achieving a negotiated settlement.

“But after days of talks they (the union) have been unwilling to negotiate on any position,” he said. “More importantly, the union has put additional demands on the table, effectively moving us farther apart from achieving a settlement.”

Randy Graham, international vice-president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 2,300 striking workers, disputed the mayor’s version of what led to the collapse.

He said the union offered several different ideas to get closer to a settlement, but the city accepted none of them and offered nothing different than what was in an offer rejected by a membership vote on Jan. 8.

“I don’t understand where they are coming from in this,” said Mr. Graham. “We are trying to get a deal done, but they seem content to let this continue. They aren’t moving. It’s sad. I guess we’ll see what happens from here.”

In an effort to get things moving, the people gathered for the 45-minute service at St. Joseph’s shared Christian, Hindu and Baha’i prayers. The Baha’i prayer offered a reminder that it is God who “hath dominion over all things.”

Diane Ferrier, a 47-year-old nanny, decided to attend the service after hearing about it on the radio. It was the first time she had been in church in seven years.

She’s not a transit user, but she was attracted by the message. “It was not only for those compromised by the strike, but also for those in the strike and how we have to see things not just from our perspective. It’s not just about us.”

Community activist David Gladstone added his voice to the songs and prayers.

“I couldn’t resist,” he said. “Strictly speaking, I shouldn’t be here. I’m Jewish. But this is the first community meeting on the loss of an essential service. This is a prayer service for a man-made disaster. But no politicians. Look around.”

The congregation recited a Litany of Lament, which went like this: “O God of mercy, hear our cries for OC Transpo workers and city management, city council and the union.”

They called upon God on behalf of the isolated and lonely and those who have lost jobs, who are stressed and malnourished. They prayed for the environment “further stressed with cars.” They remembered the weary, the voiceless and those who are “embittered and angry with the strikers and/or management.”

One by one, for each lament, a member of the congregation brought forth a red candle and placed it on a circular platform at the front of the church. The red candles surrounded a large white Paschal candle representing the Resurrection and hope in darkness.

“We feel the pain of those who wonder how they will get to the medical care they so badly need,” Tom Taylor, parishioner and Oblate associate, said at the start of the service.

“We hear the silent cry of the voiceless whose very livelihood is increasingly at risk. We are keenly aware of the deepening frustration and, yes, anger of those who come to both sides of the bargaining table and who leave without the resolution they seek.”

There have been no formal talks between the two sides since Dec. 23.

The fallout from the strike is now clear: people are quitting school, losing jobs and missing medical appointments, businesses are suffering, the pace of regular work at City Hall is being hampered and daily commutes for many are difficult.

Bay Councillor Alex Cullen, who chairs the transit committee, said at the start of the strike most people urged councillors to hold the line in their dispute with ATU 279, no matter how long it takes.

He said there are still people urging council hold the line, but after more than six weeks with no transit service, they are in the minority.

“People are getting more and more concerned about the effect this is having on the city, and they are letting their elected representatives know it,” Mr. Cullen said.

“A majority of people want to see the strike end, and many don’t care how. We want it to end too, but not on any terms.”

Mr. Bloess said the reaction he’s getting from the public is that they want the strike to end, but that the city “shouldn’t be giving away the farm.” He added that, like the public, council members are growing tired of dealing with the strike.

“Councillors are sick of it, too,” he said. “We didn’t want this strike on Day 1, and we even more don’t want it now.”

Rideau-Vanier Councillor Georges Bédard said citizens and businesses in his ward are feeling the pain and want it the labour dispute to end.

“People are suffering as this goes on,” he said. “No one is in a win situation here, and that’s why we need to get back to the table and deal with these issues.”

The strike was called on Dec. 10 when talks broke off over city demands to change the way drivers are scheduled and assigned routes, the hours of work, and working conditions. Other outstanding issues include wages, sick days and contracting-out language.

The union has said it would end the strike if the city agreed to put the work-scheduling issues that led to the strike into a non-binding, mediation-like process, and go to binding arbitration on the rest. The city has offered to go to binding arbitration on all issues, if the union agrees that any final settlement be within financial parameters set by the city.

“It is unfortunate that talks broke down, but the union continues to recommend that the city accept an important opportunity to get transit back on the road and life for Ottawa bus riders back to normal,” said local president André Cornellier in a statement Friday.

On Monday at 12:30 p.m. at Festival Square at City Hall, leaders of Ottawa faith communities will make a public statement.

“The leaders of the faith communities of Ottawa will unite to peacefully call on the Ottawa Transit Union, the Mayor, and the Council of the City of Ottawa to set aside their differences and restore transit services to the residents of Ottawa while they continue their negotiations,” Anglican Bishop John Chapman said in a statement.

A demonstration to call attention to the strike is set for Monday at 10:30 a.m. on Parliament Hill.

Community advocate Catherine Gardner says she wants MPs and city council to see the faces of those suffering because of the bus strike.

The union is asking members to refrain from taking part in the demonstration.

“We are already very effectively making sure our voices are being heard on the picket lines,” according to a union statement.

© Copyright © The Ottawa Citizen

Council holds emergency meeting on strike

OTTAWA-Ottawa council went into an emergency closed meeting over the public transit strike that is crippling the city and is now in its 46th day.

Councillor Maria McRae entered the council chamber early Saturday afternoon saying she wants to hear where the city is going after informal mediation talks collapsed on Friday.

“What is our strategy? Where are we going?” said Ms. McRae. “This many days without public transit in a G8 capital is one day too many.”

Word of the unusual Saturday meeting came late Friday night. It was called by Mayor Larry O’Brien, but at the request of some city council members.

Ms. McRae said she wants to be briefed directly by the city’s negotiating team on the latest developments and she is prepared to meet Saturday and Sunday to “end this strike as soon as possible.”

As councillors walked into the chamber, David Jeanes, one of Ottawa’s biggest advocates for public transit, pleaded with them to end the strike and the misery transit riders who can no longer get around the city and motorists who are caught in traffic jams for hours.

“The strike has to end. This is enough,” said Mr. Jeanes. “People are really suffering.”

Mr. Jeanes said the halt of transit has seriously eroded the productivity of the federal public service, hurt the health of residents who can’t get out to medical appointments or socialize, cost some people their jobs and damaged many businesses.

Mr. Jeanes said the city may have wanted to starve the union out but it has in the process starved the citizens of an essential public service.

He added that the city’s shutdown of its transit system for almost two months, in the coldest part of the year, has seriously impaired its ability to ask provincial and federal governments to help pay for an ambitious expanded transit system worth billions of dollars.

“We cannot afford this strike anymore,” said Mr. Jeanes.

The 2,300 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279 have been on strike since Dec. 10.

Relations between the city and its striking transit union are so bad that even informal, federally mediated talks recently broke down with each side blaming the other for the impasse.

The talks, aimed at finding a way to end the strike, failed Friday afternoon.

In a note to city council Friday announcing the failure, Mayor Larry O’Brien put the blame squarely on the union.

“The federal mediator has suggested that since the parties continue to be so far apart on their demands there is no benefit in continuing mediated talks at this time,” the mayor wrote.

Meanwhile, the breakdown in talks has the public calling on councillors and calling on God.

About 35 people attended a special prayer service Friday night at St. Joseph’s Parish on Laurier Avenue East in downtown Ottawa.

“We were trying to think of a way we could respond,” said pastoral associate Mary Murphy. “A prayer service seemed the most logical because it is based in faith and we believe faith can make a difference.

“We’re hearing from people not getting enough food, isolated people, people on assistance. A lot of people are very tired,” she said. “We’re hearing about someone working part-time in retail paying $12 a day to get to and from work.”

Father Roy Boucher, the Oblate Superior for the Ontario Oblates, added: “It’s really an expression of our solidarity for the many who are impacted and suffering and a prayer that we can resolve the situation.”

Meanwhile, city councillors said Friday that as the strike drags on, public pressure to settle the dispute is mounting.

“People are fed up,” Innes Councillor Rainer Bloess said. “The frustration is building, and at a point where it’s a situation that becomes unbearable for the city. We’re hearing it.”

Mr. O’Brien said the city remains committed to achieving a negotiated settlement.

“But after days of talks they (the union) have been unwilling to negotiate on any position,” he said. “More importantly, the union has put additional demands on the table, effectively moving us farther apart from achieving a settlement.”

Randy Graham, international vice-president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents 2,300 striking workers, disputed the mayor’s version of what led to the collapse.

He said the union offered several different ideas to get closer to a settlement, but the city accepted none of them and offered nothing different than what was in an offer rejected by a membership vote on Jan. 8.

“I don’t understand where they are coming from in this,” said Mr. Graham. “We are trying to get a deal done, but they seem content to let this continue. They aren’t moving. It’s sad. I guess we’ll see what happens from here.”

In an effort to get things moving, the people gathered for the 45-minute service at St. Joseph’s shared Christian, Hindu and Baha’i prayers. The Baha’i prayer offered a reminder that it is God who “hath dominion over all things.”

Diane Ferrier, a 47-year-old nanny, decided to attend the service after hearing about it on the radio. It was the first time she had been in church in seven years.

She’s not a transit user, but she was attracted by the message. “It was not only for those compromised by the strike, but also for those in the strike and how we have to see things not just from our perspective. It’s not just about us.”

Community activist David Gladstone added his voice to the songs and prayers.

“I couldn’t resist,” he said. “Strictly speaking, I shouldn’t be here. I’m Jewish. But this is the first community meeting on the loss of an essential service. This is a prayer service for a man-made disaster. But no politicians. Look around.”

The congregation recited a Litany of Lament, which went like this: “O God of mercy, hear our cries for OC Transpo workers and city management, city council and the union.”

They called upon God on behalf of the isolated and lonely and those who have lost jobs, who are stressed and malnourished. They prayed for the environment “further stressed with cars.” They remembered the weary, the voiceless and those who are “embittered and angry with the strikers and/or management.”

One by one, for each lament, a member of the congregation brought forth a red candle and placed it on a circular platform at the front of the church. The red candles surrounded a large white Paschal candle representing the Resurrection and hope in darkness.

“We feel the pain of those who wonder how they will get to the medical care they so badly need,” Tom Taylor, parishioner and Oblate associate, said at the start of the service.

“We hear the silent cry of the voiceless whose very livelihood is increasingly at risk. We are keenly aware of the deepening frustration and, yes, anger of those who come to both sides of the bargaining table and who leave without the resolution they seek.”

There have been no formal talks between the two sides since Dec. 23.

The fallout from the strike is now clear: people are quitting school, losing jobs and missing medical appointments, businesses are suffering, the pace of regular work at City Hall is being hampered and daily commutes for many are difficult.

Bay Councillor Alex Cullen, who chairs the transit committee, said at the start of the strike most people urged councillors to hold the line in their dispute with ATU 279, no matter how long it takes.

He said there are still people urging council hold the line, but after more than six weeks with no transit service, they are in the minority.

“People are getting more and more concerned about the effect this is having on the city, and they are letting their elected representatives know it,” Mr. Cullen said.

“A majority of people want to see the strike end, and many don’t care how. We want it to end too, but not on any terms.”

Mr. Bloess said the reaction he’s getting from the public is that they want the strike to end, but that the city “shouldn’t be giving away the farm.” He added that, like the public, council members are growing tired of dealing with the strike.

“Councillors are sick of it, too,” he said. “We didn’t want this strike on Day 1, and we even more don’t want it now.”

Rideau-Vanier Councillor Georges Bédard said citizens and businesses in his ward are feeling the pain and want it the labour dispute to end.

“People are suffering as this goes on,” he said. “No one is in a win situation here, and that’s why we need to get back to the table and deal with these issues.”

The strike was called on Dec. 10 when talks broke off over city demands to change the way drivers are scheduled and assigned routes, the hours of work, and working conditions. Other outstanding issues include wages, sick days and contracting-out language.

The union has said it would end the strike if the city agreed to put the work-scheduling issues that led to the strike into a non-binding, mediation-like process, and go to binding arbitration on the rest. The city has offered to go to binding arbitration on all issues, if the union agrees that any final settlement be within financial parameters set by the city.

“It is unfortunate that talks broke down, but the union continues to recommend that the city accept an important opportunity to get transit back on the road and life for Ottawa bus riders back to normal,” said local president André Cornellier in a statement Friday.

On Monday at 12:30 p.m. at Festival Square at City Hall, leaders of Ottawa faith communities will make a public statement.

“The leaders of the faith communities of Ottawa will unite to peacefully call on the Ottawa Transit Union, the Mayor, and the Council of the City of Ottawa to set aside their differences and restore transit services to the residents of Ottawa while they continue their negotiations,” Anglican Bishop John Chapman said in a statement.

A demonstration to call attention to the strike is set for Monday at 10:30 a.m. on Parliament Hill.

Community advocate Catherine Gardner says she wants MPs and city council to see the faces of those suffering because of the bus strike.

The union is asking members to refrain from taking part in the demonstration.

“We are already very effectively making sure our voices are being heard on the picket lines,” according to a union statement.


© Copyright © The Ottawa Citizen

Both sides in transit strike to meet Monday morning

City of Ottawa negotiators, armed with a fresh mandate from council, will meet Monday morning with the transit union and a federal mediator in hopes of restarting negotiations to end the 47-day OC Transpo strike.

Randy Graham, the vice-president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279, will meet with city staff and the mediator at 10 a.m.


Mayor Larry O'Brien offered few details Saturday night on council's new instructions for negotiators, aside from the need for a safe scheduling system for drivers.


"Any kind of solution we find to the strike will have to include working to the safety guidelines as defined by the federal government which means, on average, no more than 14 hours a day, eight hours rest between shifts, and at least one day off in every two week period," O'Brien said after the special, closed-door session at City Hall.


The union's proposal maintains that scheduling remain under their control, the same position they held when informal negotiations broke off on Friday.

"We are completely dedicated to trying to find a fair, reasonable, and responsible solution to this strike," O'Brien said Sunday at a charity event, where he was approached by frustrated residents and supporters.

MacLeod urges province to provide emergency funds

Nepean-Carleton MPP Lisa MacLeod wants the provincial government to provide one-time social services funding to the City of Ottawa to help those affected by the loss of transit.


MacLeod, an opposition Conservative, said money from Queen's Park would offset the city's $700,000 emergency plan that includes taxi chits and assistance for the working poor and those who lost jobs during the strike.


"The time has come for the (government) to step up to the plate on the humanitarian side," MacLeod told the legislature on Sunday, as MPPs voted on back-to-work legislation for striking York University employees.


MacLeod said calls to her constituency office for support from Ontario Disability Support Program and Ontario Works recipients have "increased dramatically" in recent weeks. She also outlined her proposal in a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty.



Parliament Hill protest planned


As both sides return to the table Monday, a group of Ottawa residents plan to march from City Hall to Parliament Hill at 10:30 a.m.


Organizers want the federal government to place OC Transpo under federal regulations for drivers' hours of service, which does not currently include public transit, because buses cross provincial lines and cannot be regulated from Queen's Park.

I hope this strike ends before February...