I went by the Bridge Terminal this evening to talk to striking bus drivers, and found only this lone striker, Tony Rygiel, who goes by the name Trooper. I’ll simply let Trooper tell his own story, via the recording below, but the exchange gives me the idea to regularly interview the strikers, to give a human face to this contract dispute.
Here’s Trooper’s story:
This article appears in Feb 2-8, 2012.
So he doesn’t know what the scheduling issue is about, but he goes on strike anyway? The whole seniority mindset is the root of the problem. “Do you get any extra vacation?” “No, it maxes out at 6 weeks after 25 years”. Kee-rist! “My medication is gonna run out in 2 1/2 weeks” – think the fact that you aren’t working is connected to that, buddy? Maybe if you weren’t on strike that wouldn’t happen!
So an inexperienced driver makes the same as an experienced one? That makes zero sense to me. It’s the type of job where you would expect that experience would be valued and rewarded.
He thinks he has maxed out vacation but the contract allows an extra day for each year after 25 years. In year 26 he gets 31 days paid vacation.
Clause 15.02 All employees will receive an annual vacation with pay in accordance with the following:
(a) After employment and for the remainder of the calendar year, one and oneÂquarter (1 & 1/4) working days’ paid vacation for each month or partial month of employment.
(b) In the employee’ssecond to fifth calendar year of employment, fifteen(15) working days’ paid vacation.
(c) In the employee’s sixth to twelfth calendar year of employment, twenty (20) working days’ paid vacation.
(d) In the employee’s thirteenth to nineteenth calendar year of employment, twentyÂfive (25) working days’ paid vacation.
(e) In the employee’s twentieth to twentyÂfifth calendar year of employment, thirty (30) working days’ paid vacation.
(f) An employee will receive one (1) additional working day paid vacation for every year after twentyÂfive calendar years.
He gets more vacation than healthcare employees, go figure.
experience is valued and rewarded, but only after workers get the same pay for the same job. it makes perfect sense to me.
Tony “Trooper” is a really great bus operator…courteous to a fault, drives safely and is always friendly (unless provoked, but even then he will try to diffuse a situation rather than simply react). However, his complaining that he can’t afford his medication is giving me a fit! If he’s making $50K a year, why the hell hasn’t he put something aside for emergencies such as this and stop trying to make it sound like it’s the bloody strike that’s depriving him of his medicine?!!! I can’t get my medication either but it’s because you lot are on strike and the only way I have of getting anywhere is by bus because I’m a senior trying to make it on a poverty-level income while also dealing with mobility issues. Before anyone squawks about why I didn’t set aside funds for retirement…I did, and lost most of it in the market failure of the early 90s, thanks to a failed US bank.
While I feel for the situation “Old broad” is in, I bet that if her investments had paid off like she expected, she’d be living in Spain with her compatriots. The posting by joeblow shows he or she has a copy of the contract and is cherry-picking sections to undermine the union position and he or she is very likely in management at Transit. As for the scheduling issue, not everyone who works under a contract understands all the intricacies involved. When the leaders of a union bring a contract to their members, not everyone understands every little detail and usually accept the recommendation of the union leaders to accept or reject the contract. That’s why unions have l-e-a-d-e-r-s who negotiate the finer details. They are paid to understand and argue the finer points. Not every union member can explain a contract they work under any more than a city councillor can explain how things work at city hall.
@Fred Bashor – No, I wouldn’t be “living in Spain with…compatriots”. My intention was always to return home to Halifax upon retirement and not be encumbered by an automobile because I’d seen and heard how good the bus system here is. Indeed, I do find the system to be quite good, actually much better than most places I’ve lived. However, in a municipality of this size, I believe public transit should be considered an essential service with no right to strike by its operators. I don’t think the drivers or their representatives in the union have any inkling of just how much difficulty this situation is creating for a large segment of the population, and I’m not just speaking about regular transit patrons. Businesses are suffering also, and in these chancey economic times, some may not survive. On the assumption that you do not rely upon public transit to get around, your understanding of the situation for those who depend on the system being operationak is nil.
http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/5/1716…
Fred Bashor is a retired bus driver. I am not in management at Transit or anywhere else. I can read and comprehend simple and complex documents. The ATU 508 contract is not complex, except for the scheduling.
Employees in healthcare, all the way up to senior managers with MSc in nursing, have to wait 25 years to get 30 days vacation. A bus driver with Grade 12 gets 30 days vacation after 20 years and has no choice in work schedule and spends 8 hours on her feet on day and overnight shifts. And most healthcare employees in Nova Scotia do not get a pension as generous as those employed at Metro Transit and HRM, and I doubt Premier Dexter will ever agree to providing a pension on the same terms as HRM.
Read the ATU contract here : http://applications.atucanada.ca/content_R…