Halifax’s transit strike is over. Tuesday, both the Amalgamated Transit Union and the Halifax city council voted to accept a new contract between the two. Mechanics went back to work Wednesday; ferry service will resume Thursday and full bus service Friday, after 43 days off the road.
In reward for their great patience, transit users will receive free service for the rest of the month. Additionally, February bus passes will be valid for the month of April.
It wasn’t publicly stated, but two councillors have told me that Metro Transit managers said in the closed-door council meeting that they want the free service in part to protect drivers. Emotions have run so high during the strike that there is some fear that rider anger will be directed at drivers, and the hope is the free fare will allay that anger. Publicly, managers say the free service is “to thank our customers.”
Free fares will have the additional benefit of bringing ridership figures up—after the last strike, it took a full year to get ridership back to pre-strike levels.
As for the contract, it appears the city got everything it wanted. The price tag for the new contract complies with all long-term budget projections previously adopted by council and, wrote Metro Transit manager Eddie Robar, the contract includes “rostering, wage steps, a new accident review policy” and a wage offer that is less than the offer rejected in a union vote on February 24. See Robar’s report here.
The union accepted rostering, albeit with the provision that the union can tweak the roster list so long as it doesn’t leave more than 10 open shifts.
The deal also includes a $4,000 signing bonus, but reflecting lost pay from the strike and no other pay raise this year, that amounts to about a one percent total annual raise. The $4,000 however, will not be compoundable into the two percent annual raises for years two through five of the contract.
This article appears in Mar 8-14, 2012.
I’m no math whiz, but I’m pretty sure $4,000 is 8% of a $50,000 salary… I’m not sure why Mr. Bousquet is trying to spin this like the ATU members are getting fleeced in year 1.
The fact is – with this $4,000 bonus, not only did the bus drivers get paid in full for the 40+ days they did not work, they also have a net gain of 1% for the year. Nothing to complain about here.
In fact, I worry about the precedent set here… if union members feel like they have nothing to lose by going on strike, expect more service disruptions in the future.
From what I understand, that 50 000 number is a little inflated. But, for arguments sake, let’s use it.
So 50,000 divided by 52 weeks is roughly 961. By the time they go back to work Friday, they well have been of, without pay, for six weeks.
961×6 = 5,766. So, using 50 000 as the standard, they lost 5,766 on the picket line, but are only getting 4,000 as the bonus. Seems like a loss to me.
And, more to the point, 50 000 is not the salary. I believe it is less than that. I just wanted to prove your point wrong.
So if the salary is less than 50,000, the $4,000 bonus is more than 8% of the gross salary – not less.
And that would be 5,766 pre tax dollars. After taxes, their take home pay for 6 weeks would have been much less than the $4,000 tax-free bonus they are getting. I didn’t bother doing the exact calculations. I just wanted to prove your point wrong.
The 4K is for each of 874 ATU members and is equal to the amount of money HRM did not spend. The good news is that it is not used in calculating a pension and if they each get paid the 4K in one check they will be taxed as though they were earning $104,000 a year. If I was HRM I would lump it in with the next payday so they get whacked with even more taxes which would not be refunded for another 12 months.
This was an ugly and (in my personal opinion) one of the most confusing labour disputes so far in HRM.
As I said in another article regarding the union’s vote to approve the agreement I think this was a classic case of “getting one half of the poor to kill the other”. I think the union’s intentions going into this were noble enough but I think they failed to realize the impact that social media can have on public relations, that, along with their inability to show facts or information that the public could relate to as well as in addition to some “tactical errors” such as blocking the snow plows.
I have to hand it to HRM and the Metro Transit management on this one, they were certainly able spin their side of the argument a hell of lot more effectively than the union could. The use of “red herrings” such as the proposals for contracting out work and hiring of part time drivers in order to confuse the true objective (which was rostering and pay scales for new drivers) was a savvy move in retrospect.
In the end, HRM and Metro Transit Management accomplished their objectives (Rostering, Driver Pay Scale and dissolution of the Accident Review Board) under their pre-established budget. The Union (which is not only just drivers but also mechanics, ferry workers and other occupations) though gaining a $4000 (taxable) signing bonus and 8% raise over four years, has lost their unique and highly-prized “Cafeteria Style” schedualing system and now new drivers joining after this collective agreement will start off at around $18/HR and it will take them five years to reach their full wage (just in time for the next round of contract negotiations). The general public, having been left without a service they pay for through both taxes and fares (and more than likely many have lost their jobs and are severely in debt), are now left with a feeling of mistrust and betrayel that they will direct at whom they believe was responsible for this whole messy affair, HRM, Metro Transit Management or the members of the ATU.
Rewarding the ATU members for their thug-like actions during the strike is just wrong. HRM should have locked them out for months, brought in replacement drivers, and broken the union.
moneill, the $4,000 *IS* taxable earnings. The drivers will be subjected to income taxes on it.
So, in the end, it will work out to be somewhere between $2,700 and $3,000 that they actually see.
And their wage is $24/hour, based on a 40-hour work week and 26 pays (bi weekly), their overall GROSS salary would be $49,920. Toss in an extra pay or two and you’d see it climb just slightly higher than $50,000 GROSS.
Again another atricle explaining the details of a contract that the city was on a win win senario and all your sad sacks can do is crap on the drivers getting a $4000 “signing bonus”. Please understand this tactic was only to try to reduce the city’s budget from incuring the expense of their payroll department from having to go back and do retro-pays for a yearly % raise. The difference in the last 2 contract was $2500. this amount seeems to be the city trying to make good where they got caught screwing the pooch while trying to change the wording in a contract where the union agrees to one to bring to a vote and then got caught while changing the agreement before the vote.
Chester,I was told that the contract the Union agreed on,and then when sent for a vote,the wording was changed by the City negotiating team,is the reason the Union voted down the last offer.I not only heard it from a Driver,but heard it on the Radio,why has this not been told to the public,I am starting to think,that the vote with a $1500.00 signing bonus was to try to keep the public on the City’s side,(it seems to have worked) I also think that this should be looked into,I would think if this is the case,Council will have to give the Public some answers. It looks to me like the offer from the City team,was an offer they knew would not be accepted,looks like they got a lot of ill informed on the Hook,just glad I have talked to the people on the picket lines/friends instead of sucking up what the Media/Transit says,,would I ever feel stupid,when the Truth comes out.
Clearly, some residents took the city’s spin hook line and sinker. No one in the union wanted or asked for this strike. HRM forced a strike vote through a Conciliator and then prolonged it through a series of take it or leave it offers. Remember this, The Mayor, Council, Senior Staff including CAO Richard Butts don’t rely on Transit to get around or make a living. The CAO does not even live here for God’s sake. So it was very easy to take a hard line, they had nothing to lose. Now they can retire to their offices behind a veil of secrecy. The last time I checked, the driver’s office is at the fare box…who do you think could have afforded the strike more. HRM has done a very clever tactic of bait and switch. Pit citizen against citizen and riders against drivers to distract from their role in this. All through a series of ads paid for by the tax payer. Clearly, some citizens have been baited…and switched!
There needs to be AMNESTY APRIL as well….throwing us half a month is like throwing us half a sandwich and say be full on that…Transit needs to be deemed essential to avoid this from happening again… or it is discrimination….
This week HRM city councilors chomp the bit about whether or not Transit is an essential service and there does not appear to be any rush to deem it one despite the very real hardships that were placed on the elderly, disabled, the poor, students and workers who cannot afford their own vehicles.
As an advocate on issues of poverty it was awesome to see so many non-impoverished citizens speak up and out on behalf of our most vulnerable populations yet city council remains loudly silent refusing to move this issue forward for public discussion and input.
It begs the question-how many councillors use the bus-
Perhaps if they traveled by bus they would see the need with need dictating the degree of essential necessity.. Refusing to take this discussion immediately to the public reveals, as usual, the lack of spine and political will to act on behalf of citizens that rely solely on transit to travel. The failure to respond timely to this issue discriminates against not only the poor but also the disabled for apparently only the most disabled should have council sympathy and have their ACCESS-A-BUS deemed essential. What about the many disabled that do not qualify for such buses which are usually reserved for wheelchair bound persons?…
Is council saying some disabled persons are more worthy than others?
Disabled people do not all look alike so stop putting us all in the same category, not only does this reflect the immeasurable ignorance on council’s behalf but it is blatant discrimination against the various forms and needs of persons with disabilities.
This is socio-economic-class discrimination as many folks who need the bus cannot afford not to take the bus or cannot afford cabs or their own car…..what happened to promoting green cities and provinces as well. This is an essential service to get to appointments, purchase groceries and basic necessities, get children to child care, rides to work and school…….shame on council but not shocked at yet another manifestation of uneducated opinions from the elected public servant..
The drivers did get fleeced, but it was there own short sightedness that got them that way. The drivers, were fighting a losing war from the start. They were told by management that they were implementing the rostering system, no matter what. That’s why they called in the concilliator early, to basically say to the union “rostering is what we’re implementing, do what you have to do”.
Now after a month of striking and getting nowhere, they exchanged a few offers to make it look like there was some bargaining going on, create a little drama, then bam!! They sign a deal that includes rostering?? The city offered them 4000 dollars for the soul of their campaign, and they ate it up. They did get fleeced, they sold out for a couple of grand, and to “have some input” into how it’s implemented. Sounds like the city is letting them save some face. ENJOY YOUR ROSTERING
Their sign up bonus is 4000.00. All riders using free bus til March end..our sign up bonus $2.2.5 x 2 a day for 15 days= 63.75…..