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December 02, 2011 at 8:43:57 AM
ckee
How long will this strike go on? Another weeks or months? Why can't York Region Municipal office force the employer to talk to the union? Neither parties are lack of initiatives and I believe is government only care taxpayers pay tax and the bus company want to make sure you pay your fare before you on board of their bus. But being residents of York Regions here, we want to see this strike end and the drivers get fair wages and our routines back on the track.

December 02, 2011 at 9:54:22 AM
BALLI
I want this strike to end....it has been long enough !!!

December 02, 2011 at 9:54:38 AM
greenCanadians
See everywhere, the unfair and unbalance system cause many problems. There should be a equal and reasonable wage system for all Canadians. Corruption and unfairness in hiring and wages should be controlled.. Gov. should implement a new law to treat and respect everyone everywhere the equal.

December 02, 2011 at 10:40:06 AM
chris mclean
What makes them entitled to a pay raise? I want a pay raise and other counterparts in my industry get paid more, does that mean I am going to go on strike and inconvience people like these inconsiderate useless people do? My theroy is simple...these unions need to be taught a leason and realize that their rights do not trump mine or anyone elses...fire them all and hire new employees that will actually appreciate the fact that they get paid 20.00 to drive a bus. Maybe these current bus employees will see how good they have it when they have to work another job for minimum wage..enough is enough.

December 02, 2011 at 10:51:29 AM
Louis Mario
pay reduce to $20 per hour for Toronto, Hamilton, Brampton and Mississauga, where drivers are paid an average of $29.
This will be fair to all the people who are making an average house income in Canada, who are paying most taxes to fund the city transit system.

December 02, 2011 at 10:52:29 AM
deltalmg
The thing is everyone isn't equal nor is everywhere. I live in Newmarket the buses usually have 15 or less people in them and stop at every 4 stops. That is not the case in bigger cities. Crime rates are higher the closer to TO you go. So YRT drivers don't deserve the same money because their job is not the same.

Add to that cost of living, not as large a difference as I think there should be but Newmarket is ~40% cheaper for housing (owning, less for small rental situations I think) versus TO so if you work in York region you have a huge convenience factor in terms of being able to live somewhere you can afford to own.

Work is a combination of pay, location, coworkers, working environment etc. Ultimately the potential employee decides to take the job on the terms offered. So at least at the time YRT drivers agreed to work for the pay offered. They might want the terms changed which is fine, but still at some point they are going to get an offer and it is either going to suit them or they are going to move on to other jobs.

December 02, 2011 at 10:53:57 AM
Beverly
I agree with the other comments that it has gone on long enough and it is very concerning that both the companies have refused to go to an arbitrator to get this resolved. If they are that confident that there offers were fair, then an arbitrator isn't going to make a difference. This says it is not fair and wages should be fair for all. These drivers in York region are great and provide good service, so smarten up people and get this resolved.

December 02, 2011 at 11:16:39 AM
Hot Soup
Fire them all !!! Give a chance to other people to work for $20/hour

December 02, 2011 at 11:42:32 AM
concerned_citizen
It’s not democracy, it’s complete anarchy.

December 02, 2011 at 11:50:25 AM
Christine
I agreee with the person who said, fire them all...there are hundreds(maybe thousands) of people who would gladly work for $20 an hour.

December 02, 2011 at 11:53:22 AM
Greg
Everyone thinks it's all about the wages.. ITS NOT... there are 32 other issues at hand here, most have to do with the health and safety of the drivers AND the passengers.

December 02, 2011 at 11:55:22 AM
steve
I live in York region and haven't even noticed them being on strike. Good for the council not backing down to ridiculous union demands. Salary increases?? In this economy? Just typical union nonsense, I agree with others, offer them zero increase and they get to keep their jobs or get rid of them and hire someone else.

December 02, 2011 at 11:55:41 AM
Barb
I guess the Region still maintains that it has no responsibility to ensure that its' transit system runs properly. They want to make sure that the drivers are safe and maintain clean driving records and that they collect fares from the riders to fill the town coffers but they don't want to accept the responsibility of actually managing the workforce or their contracted agencies. Nice position to take. Excellent use of taxpayer dollars. I would be happy to pay an extra $26 in taxes a year to get the transit system working again. In fact, I would rather my tax dollars go towards the transit driver tahn the office workers and city councillors who sit in their nice warm offices and get to use their 24 sick days per year. It is unbelievable that the Region feels they are not responsible for their own system.

December 02, 2011 at 12:02:33 PM
Dan in York
How is this a "major" announcement its just more inaction by York Region.

So all the region is saying is that for those impacted by the strike sucks to be you.

December 02, 2011 at 12:08:05 PM
Chris H
Fire them and hire other uneducated people to replace them to set precedent for all other municipalities before this grows even larger.

December 02, 2011 at 12:11:45 PM
Annalyse
Unflipping unbelievable. Geez are you freaking kidding me? I guess getting a job in TO is the only option I have right now. Otherwise I will be homeless with a job soon. This could go on for 6 months or longer. How nice to hold the PUBLIC that pays your WAGES hostage. Grrrrr!

December 02, 2011 at 12:12:11 PM
Scottie
After listening to Bill Fisch commenting on the strike I am convinced that a changing of the guards need to happen.

As a resident and taxpayer in Vaughan I am very concerned about how our tax dollars are being spent. They clearly are doing something wrong if they have to subsidize that much of the transit system. I have family who drive for the system and I can't remember them asking for parity with TTC. Fisch is treating us like idiots by speaking out of both sides of his mouth.

It's time to end this strike and get drivers back to work and people back on the system. And while we are at it...we need some new councillors. Maybe if they take their hands out of each (politicians, councillors, contractors)others pockets long enough to put the city and the citizens first, we can have a better transit system. Let's ask all of them to take a pay cut and give up some of their benefits so there is less strain on the system. How are we going to get this seamless system that they keep taking about?

December 02, 2011 at 12:19:52 PM
Baylee
Keep striking and people are going to find other means of transportation and when they DO come back to work, they will have no one to service. Be thankful you're getting $20 an hour. There's people out there with no jobs and would love to have the job these drivers have. SUCK IT UP. Because of these drivers selfishnes, my education that I pay $5000 a year for is being completely destroyed because I simply cannot get there. Newmarket is being ripped apart in order to make these bus services better and more convenient. Use the money to pay your drivers instead of disrupting the entire town by ripping Davis Drive and further apart.

December 02, 2011 at 12:25:15 PM
jojo bb
This is such a joke. Just another case of overpaid unions trying to make more. They are paid well enough as is and do not deserve a raise. Most companies do not give raises anymore or they are very low 1-2%.
A $9.00 raise, no thanks. Yrt is a joke, worse system, higher cost to riders and yet they think they deserve more. no,no,no. This strike is messing with peoples lives that depend on the service. They should not be allowed to strike. Unions do nothing but screw things up. I cant wait until their contract is up so they can get rid of these lazy overpais idiots.

December 02, 2011 at 12:25:41 PM
Yumi
This strike is OFFICIALLY ridiculous and I'm not even coming close to supporting those workers anymore. NO ONE has even bothered to talk for over a month and while the rest of us suffer, they aren't doing a damn thing. My boyfriend and I MISS buses because WE CAN'T EVEN FIT ON. So tell me again how some stupid wage increase is justifiable in a situation like this? It's not in my eyes and for the rest of us riders as far as I'm concerned. I'm trying to look for work, I'll GLADLY take $20/hr right now. Selfish and greedy is all those workers are to us right now.

December 02, 2011 at 12:40:02 PM
Bus rider
Just hang in there fellow riders. Any month and two more mortgage payments, these folks will quietly go back to work, and we will have peace for a long, long time. Otherwise, we will do this again in a couple of years.

December 02, 2011 at 1:08:50 PM
Nicole
Forget the reason you are on strike and think about all the people that need transit to survive. People can't get to school, to jobs, grocery shop and hopefully you don't have a court date in Newmarket. The courts don't care why you don't show up they will issue a warrant for your arrest for failure to appear.

My 80 year old aunt depends on transit to get everywhere and is now stuck walking or depending on family to take her places.

If I still took transit I would no longer be employed since I wouldn't be able to get to work.

December 02, 2011 at 1:19:00 PM
Say What?
so why are they complaining with $20 an hr again?. I'm pretty sure many unemployed people will flock to get a job with that pay compared to the minimum wage.

That's almost close to double min wage for just Driving Around the same route over and over. Do Taxi Drivers even get paid that much?

If you're wanting to get a raise to 29 an hr or whatever it was, I hope theyre the ones that pay more if an increase in tax hikes came.

I'd agree with many comments above and say just fire them, it's not like they're getting back to work anytime soon, and I'm pretty sure there are alot of people out there that would gladly take courses for Bus Driving to be able to perform this job.

You don't even need an education as long as you complete a driving course for this type of job

December 02, 2011 at 1:41:02 PM
Max
I agree to fire them all. There are tons of people willing to do the same job with less wage.
Or privatize the entire transit system. I bet private sectors will provide much better service.

December 02, 2011 at 1:43:10 PM
Pat
For one thing, the Region is not the employer, the Region contacted the work out. The stikers and the employers need to talk to EACH other not bash the region. Plus the drivers were offered an over 13% raise which they turned down.. In this economy no one is getting raises like that! Most are getting 1% maybe 2%. I fully support their right to strike but thier demands need to be reasonable and reflect the currant ecomony. No one is winning in this.

December 02, 2011 at 1:43:53 PM
jake
Good move by the region but they need to move to a new supplier. If the contract doesn't permit this then someone in the region needs to have a sitdown and discuss career options.

December 02, 2011 at 1:48:48 PM
J
I paid $3500 per semester for 4 years to earn my degree and I don't make anywhere near $20/h. These people are being paid that much to drive a vehicle on fixed routes. Yet they feel they need to complain because they aren't being paid as much as TTC employees who are highly favored in expense of tax payers and daily riders.

When are these people going to realize Canada is not a communist country and it never will be? If you want higher pay look for jobs that offer such instead of shoving off people that need to get to work so they can live, and see how lucky you have been while at it.

December 02, 2011 at 1:56:22 PM
MegatronRules
Strange Notion #1: The region should legislate them back to work.

Strange because:
When the region contracted out the services and paid a private company who had a private union to run its services its hard to see that this is still within the business of the region. Obviously York Region was drawn to saving money by contracting out. How did the region think that the private companies would do this?

York has made a choice, in trying to save money, to put the services (that we pay taxes for and rely on) at risk. A noble intent to be sure, but the outcome is largely predictable.

December 02, 2011 at 2:26:13 PM
Tired of this
I cannot believe York Region council. Are they kidding? I have emailed them several times and they are holding the party line. "We won’t get involved" The next time you come to my door soliciting my vote I will remember that you "WONT GET INVOLVED". As for all of you people who are suggesting that council is correct in their stance is guess this is not affecting you directly. So you have no idea as to the hardship this is causing people who depend on this service.

December 02, 2011 at 2:33:09 PM
VIVA
Stop the strike this is crazy no one is gaining from it.......

December 02, 2011 at 2:45:28 PM
Greg
Fire every one of these lazy bums. There are thousands of people who would love to work for $20/hour. Let them strike themselves out of a job.

December 02, 2011 at 3:15:30 PM
John
For all you people who say "Fire them all", you obviously know no bus drivers. Nor do you have any idea what it is like driving a bus in the middle of the night while people with ill intentions sit next to you. You think its so easy? I'd pay you $50/hour to drive the Jane bus 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. You won't last a week. The YRT is at fault here for outsourcing an essential service to a cheap, executive overpaying corporation. That's who's to blame. Not the people trying to fight for $9 / hour. Why is there no mention of executive salaries at the YRT or these corporations? Stop hating and start thinking rednecks.

December 02, 2011 at 4:21:15 PM
Heather
This is disgusting I can't believe that the government doesn't step in. Be greatful for what you are making there are people in other parts of the world that don't even make a 1/3 of what you make. Don't be so greedy!

December 02, 2011 at 4:35:54 PM
Carl - East Gwillimbury
Very interesting comments that could use some information I believe most people are not aware of.

1. York Region Transit Operators do in fact endure the same dangers to their safety as all operators in all jurisdictions, including being spit on, verbal abuse and physical attacks.

2. Comparing Transit Operators in Durham, TTC, GO, Brampton, Mississauga and Oakville, York Region Operators earn over $7.50/hr LESS, pay 100% of their Group Benefits plan, have no sick days, no pension plan, are often required to work 16 hour split shifts and 10-12 hour shifts with no breaks, not even bathroom breaks.

York Region is right in the middle of these locations, the drivers are doing the same work, with the same risks, yet as you can see, the gap in wages and benefits between York Region and all surrounding areas is significant and quite frankly, insulting.

3. Operators in York Region live in all those locations including Toronto just like TTC Operators live in York Region.

4. York Region is the only operation that uses private contractors which I presume is to save money. Operator's compensation is about 40% lower yet York Region's fare rates are the highest???

5. The unions representing these operators are not asking for parity in pay and benefits, but merely to close the gap to a respectable level.

December 02, 2011 at 4:54:53 PM
JO
JUST THINK HOW MANY STUDENTS ARE TRYING TO FIND THEIR NEXT RIDE TO GET TO SCHOOL AND GO HOME.
JUST SILLY.