The Strike

Those of you who don't live in Toronto may have not heard that the TTC went on strike this weekend. Here's basically what happened: The union was threatening a strike for weeks, and the deadline was last Sunday (April 20). They promised to give at least 48 hours notice if they were going to walk off the job, but at the last minute they reached a deal and a strike was averted. However, when it came time to vote on the new agreement, 65% of the union members rejected it. So on this past Friday night at 11 PM, they announced that they were going on strike at Midnight.

Obviously, this pissed a lot of people off - especially all the people who were stranded somewhere in Toronto on Friday night (luckily I wasn't one of them). David Miller looked like a red-headed fourth grader who just got picked on....He was one TV camera away from a full-blown fistfight with Bob Kinnear. A lot of people respect the union's right to strike, but everyone seems to agree that they had no reason to not give the 48 hours notice (or at least finish service for that night) and screwed over a lot of people by refusing to do so.

Back-to-work legislation was easily passed by all 3 parties on Sunday, and the TTC was back in service well in time for the morning rush today.

The debate now around here is whether or not to declare public transit an essential service. But I think another debate should be had: Whether or not we should be open to private mass transit. I'm inherently skeptical about privatizing any important service that is normally public, but I can't really think of any good reason why we shouldn't have private transit. (Ok, there are a few, but I don't think they outweigh the benefits). If a private company can provide mass transit of equal or superior quality for an equal or lesser fare than the TTC, then why not? Of course there would be problems with 100% private ownership (unprofitable routes not being covered, etc.) but surely there is some sort of two-tiered structure that could work. It has before....up until the 1930s mass transit was predominantly private and it really only failed because those companies were all built before people actually drove cars. But maybe it's a terrible idea and I'm just being extra unsympathetic to the TTC union today. Thoughts?