Is transit an essential service? (revisited)

By Robert Mackenzie on February 22, 2010 4:33 PM

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A member of the provincial parliament wants the province to declare the TTC an “essential service”.

If the legislature passes Liberal MPP David Caplan’s private-member’s bill, TTC employees could no longer strike while negotiating contracts with management.

However, Ontario’s minister of transport, Kathleen Wynn, does not intend to support the bill, which, she says, does not reflect the government’s position on the matter. She says the province won’t make transit essential, unless the City of Toronto asks it to.

Declaring the TTC an essential service will make sure that both sides enter into an arbitration process immediately, whenever contract negotiations break down.

TTC workers last went on strike in April 2008. After that strike, the C.D. Howe Institute studied the feasibility of declaring transit an essential service in Toronto. Its study found that designating the service as essential could cost the City more than $23 million during a three-year contract, if staff were to receive a similar agreement to other essential service workers such as police officers and emergency workers.

It also found that the designation does little to discourage work stoppages and doesn’t prevent illegal walkouts.

Toronto City Council considered — and rejected — a proposal to declare transit an essential service in October 2008. You can read Transit Toronto’s posts on the issue here, here and here.

From the Transit Toronto Newspaper Clipping Archives

Currently:

Previously:

  • Globe and Mail article (October 28, 2008): “Giambrone under fire on eve of TTC debate” here.
  • Toronto Star editorial (October 29, 2008): “Designate TTC as ‘essential’” here.
  • Globe and Mail article (October 31, 2008): “Miller wins tight vote on TTC’s right to strike” here.

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