Transit workers have rejected a contract offer from the city by 78 percent, meaning there is no end in sight to Halifax’s 22-day-old transit strike.
The offer, billed as the city’s “final offer” contained the controversial rostering proposal, which would fundamentally change the way schedules are set. As well, it had a $1,500 one-time payment for workers as soon as the contract was signed, but no raise this year. The proposed contract length was for five years, with just a nine percent raise over the entire period.
The transit union executive committee made no recommendation to union members, and simply brought the contract up for a vote.
Listen to union president Ken Wilson address the press here.
This article appears in Feb 23-29, 2012.
” ….with just a nine percent raise over the entire period.”
Poor souls, just finished a contact with 3.5% each year for 5 years. Dexter is doling out 1% increases a year for 3 years.
“just a nine percent raise” ….. JUST !!? What planet are you living on Bousquet. I freelance for whatever I can get, and you turn up your nose at a 9% raise. How freeking stupid are you? What a knob.
For all those out there that think, and I use that term loosely, that Drivers are out for money, the one time payment of $1500 and the 9% pay increase over the period of a 5 year contract would of sealed the deal, then you would be correct. BUT the fact that the vote was 78% to reject the offer CONFIRMS it’s NOT about money…..what more do people need to see how the city is NOT negotiating, they are dictating, the Take it or leave it strategy? GOOD GRIEF!!! The stupidity that comes from over opinionated,uninformed, readers amazes me…..
Great news, I was just down town with my new Mercedes town car. It was so nice not having to drive behind those black smoke belching buses and their snooty drivers, you know, the ones wih the three chins and three bellies hanging over their belts. Funny thing lots of people still standing in those bus shelters, don’t they know that there are no busses? This is especially true along Gottingen St. Come to think of it there was just as much smoke coming out of the shelters as there used to be from the back of the buses only difference was the color of the smoke, the bus smoke made you choke and cough the smoke in the bus shelter made you laugh and grin.
I really can’t understand how a non-professional workforce can hold out for more money and “perks” while holding the average hard-working haligonian hostage. I mean, while nurses fight to get a 3% raise over 3 years, the transit workes reject a 2% + raise/year over the next 4-5 years plus a $1500 compensation package!!! So what is happening here is the fat-ass transit workers feel they are more valueble than a nurse? I really wish we as Canadians, more importantly, we as Maritimers should show the lazy bastards just how we feel about them by showing them exactly how we feel. Flipping them off, cursing them out, or just downright letting them know how they are putting 90+ thousand people in a position they can’t afford to be in. Thanks transit workers. You take douchbagery to a new height.
For all of you calling the drivers “uneducated”, I just have to laugh.
I laugh because YOU are the ones who are failing to see that HRM is using the ol’ smoke and mirrors trick on people – and worst of all, IT’S WORKING!
The city had originally offered wage increases of 2.5%, 3% and 2.75% over the span of a 3-year contract. That totals 8.25%.
Their latest offer is a $1,500 lump sum payment for the first year – in lieu of any raise/retro pay – and then a 2.5% increase in wage for the remaining 4-years of the contract.
All totaled, their latest final, final, and we mean FINAL offer is now a 9% increase overall.
That translates into a whopping 0.75% increase the overall difference between the original contract offer and the current “final” offer from the city.
Yet, the drivers – who are all greedy, thieving overpaid, uneducated bastard monkeys – at least according to the many comments around here – have REJECTED the latest offer.
Now, why would they do that?
Ahh, right. It’s all about the money, because HRM says so.
I don’t believe HRM’s spin on the whole situation for one second and neither should any of you. By now, we should all be well aware that City Council has a habit of feeding the public loads of bullshit, especially when it comes to saving their own asses from hot water.
I’m not saying that you have to side with the drivers/union in this case, but you also shouldn’t be blindly following a Mayor and City Council who have blatantly and knowingly lied to the public on numerous occasions either.
“Think for yourself and question authority” – Timothy Leary.
Who pays for any pay increase the transit workers get? So I am not siding with HRM. I’m siding with my family that suffers from reduced income because of increased costs related to getting to my job. I don’t have the luxury of walking to work like alot of hipsters that read this shit newspaper.
Hrm cost of living went up by 4.8% last year. A 9% raise will not be as great as it sounds.
No you are right, it is not as great as it sounds, but you know what, they make a comfortable living, and that is more than most of us can say. It is very difficult to sympathize with the union when they are being asked to work under a scheduling system that is used in virtually every transit system in North America. To me, that seems utterly ridiculous. You want to know why they are sore, cos it means there will be a reduction in overtime, and who pays for this overtime, we, the taxpayers do.
the city is dictating and using a take it or leave it strategy but isnt the union doing the exact same thing? We keep our rostering period and our normal raises every year. there is no negotiation on either side. And besides 2-3% a year is the same raise every worker is getting in best are they not. Im in nsgeu at msvu and we just finished up a 2% a year.
It is about the money. Because if the city gets what they want the overtime will be reduced and with the minimum overtime being $5,000 a year and some making $25,000 overtime a year you can be certain it is about THE MONEY. The union will take the scheduling change provided HRM increases basic pay by at least 10% in the first year. The bus drivers are counting on the OT pay and they know that if they lose the power over scheduling their OT will drop big time.
With Kelly now out of the race the union has switched to blaming Butts. I hope they stay out another month, because sometime soon Dexter will have to get off his butt and listen to voters, many of whom earn much less and get smaller increases than the drivers.
Hello, from what I am told, and I tend to listen to all sides and all opinions even if I don’t agree with them, and just because it differs from mine does not mean that it’s wrong. After rummiging through all that info I received, I’ve come to one conclusion, they don’t want to loose anything they have already won in there negotiations through-out the years, so the union is doing exactly what they should. It’s sucks, we all know it sucks, but they are doing what is right for them and you cannot blame them for that.
With that said the Access-a-bus is an essential service to lot of our fellow citizens and they should not have the option to strike. Common they’re hurting the elderly and disabled and who can allow that. As a few have said before me if they are saying “no” to more money, there is a deeper problem that has not been talked about, I’ll find it yet though.
The city is trying to cut cost on everything they can and when it comes to the transit workers they are lucky enough to have a union backing them up. The only thing we have is each other so I hope we have strong shoulders in the common months. But think about those poor taxi drivers, they haven’t had a raise in six years, IN SIX YEARS. Who here reading this would stay at a job for six years without one raise. The crapy thing for the taxi drivers is there is no one looking out for them. Correction the one looking out for them works at the airport and he’s not even a taxi driver. Almost all the meetings regarding what is going to happen to the taxi driver are behind closed doors. They are not even allowed to hear what is being said about there future, now that bothers me. Thank you.
You are exactly right, Brandon. There are many spare board drivers who have grown accustomed to living on the excessive amount of overtime they can accumulate and that is what this is mostly about. Joshua, they have never won their current scheduling system, it is the same system that has been in place forever, in other words, it is time to move forward. Also, over the last several years, the amount of drivers have increased and so have the amount of routes. If rostering will aid in better scheduling and reduction in overtime, how is this a bad thing for the city and the taxpayers?
It is sad that a union for a venture heavily subsidized by tax payers dollars has the capacity to affect so many thousands of peoples lives. Privatize this industry and let’s get on with living.
Ok so I have been reading way to much of this stuff. But what if management is inept. The “owners” are actually you and every other taxpayer in this city. The management has proven from year to year to make poor decisions. They spend more than they need to, they give themselves raises annually that are far better than average (8% last year) and most of them have never driven a bus before. If you were ordering buses for your business would you ask the people driving them for there input? I heard recently from a driver that they have no input. Really? That’s just common sense isn’t it? And the bus ordering thing is just the tip of a very large Iceberg. How do you pick vacation where you work? By seniority right? The Metro Transit supervisor’s you see travelling around in the trucks, someone in management thought it would be a good idea to go to a lottery on vacation pick. The 2nd least senior driver got to pick first. The most senior supervisor, with over 20 years in, got to pick 2nd to last and couldn’t get a week off in the summer month’s. Seriously? I found that out from a supervisor. Is that team building or actually I am have a hard time coming up with a term or word for that…..
I have read alot about what is going on. I am trying to keep an open mind but as someone who has owned a business for many years I am seeing that this management group has no idea how to manage people. If they listen to there employee’s and meet there needs there workforce will be there best advertisement to get more people to use there system. Yes some drivers are complete idiots but most of them are family people like you and I who are just trying to make a living. It is there “career’. They get me home safe every night in all conditions.
The system is broken. It definitely needs to be fixed. The management and employees are so busy trying to look good in the public eye that they have completely forgotten about what is important. The people they move from place to place. As a Metro transit user in the past and future I hope they can come to an agreement for all of us “owners”.
Let me get this right: Council bypassed the ATU508’s negotiation team insisting that the union executive take the city’s offer straight to the members for a vote without discussing the document with the negotiation team first. Now we are hearing that ‘one’ of the main reasons the drivers rejected the offer was because of the language used in the document. That if the executive had been able to discuss the ambiguous language used in the document. That language and wording could have been changed to ensure the rostering articles could not be misinterpreted and manipulated by the Management after the contract was ratified. It would then have been very likely that the members of ATU508 would have accepted their contract offer. Why did Council do something so stupid
Halifax needs a subway system
Let me get this right: Council bypassed the ATU508’s negotiation team insisting that the union executive take the city’s offer straight to the members for a vote without discussing the document with the negotiation team first. Now we are hearing that ‘one’ of the main reasons the drivers rejected the offer was because of the language used in the document. That if the executive had been able to discuss the ambiguous language used in the document. That language and wording could have been changed to ensure the rostering articles could not be misinterpreted and manipulated by the Management after the contract was ratified. It would then have been very likely that the members of ATU508 would have accepted their contract offer. Why did Council do something so stupid? And now people are talking about fire barrels. Never mind the fire barrels. Get council to correct the wording language in the contract, and get our buses back on the road
Mr Kramer, I don’t know how to explain this to you but we have to love our police. It’s true that there are a few who let the power go to their head and in some instances very dangerously, but that’s human nature. I’m sure you have a few friends that will be willing to risk there lives to save you, but if your life is in danger you know you can count on a police officer to do what it takes to save your life every time. Well almost every time. You have to treat them with respect and dignity because people tend to treat you the way you treat them, and when it comes down to it that’s just what they are people.
So with that being said you can’t ask someone to do more then they can handle, and just think of the things they see, stuff that doesn’t need to be placed up on here, and I’m sure you can think of a few for yourself. We need to protect them so they can protect us from ourselves. Also it’s easier to watch them.
Now when it comes to the transit workers I only have one question to ask you, What right do you have to attack another human when your life’s not in danger?
Yes sometimes we get angry but there are other ways to deal with it. I find if you talk about it tends to solve it self, but there are times it makes it worse, not often though. Speech is the the best defense in most cases and all officers know this(again there are points out of the spectrum), and I hope you can work past your anger because it takes a lot of work sometimes.
Mr. Kramer (see moronic post below), any chance you could maybe get back on your meds?
We can out Steve Adams’s CH account for slagging the striking transit workers, but we can’t prevent Kramer’s hate from coating this whole discussion with excrement? Come on guys…
Kramer, you obviously crave attention, and obviously don’t have the balls to do anything you rant about. Fellow Coast posters, don’t give this child any satisfaction and please ignore him. He speaks like a crazed imbecile to read the heated replies he receives. He has no value to these forums and will wither away if we just ignore him
Well Mr Kramer, if you could see the whole pic that is my icon, you would see a pair of male and female Cannabis plants. So when it comes to pot we both want the same thing, to cure our illnesses with it and the many other benefits that it brings along.
When it comes to luring people in to hurt them with what Saddam Hussane or Bin Ladden have done, I agree, you all have no right to do have done any of it, and it’s also good to hear you won’t attack anyone. What your step father did is wrong. There is no excuse for it. You were 13 and he had no right to hit you, and the police no had no right to neglect your calls and say you deserved it, no child deserves even one punch. Some of the stuff cops and Hitler have done is inexcusable. Killing is killing and not one soul has the right to take anyone’s life unless it’s in the up most of self-defense. I’m talking you will die if you don’t do something.
To the question of who protects you from the police, the answer should be every one. If we look at other countries and throughout time, it’s seems to be the only way shit gets changed. A majority of cops I’ve spoken to about pot didn’t have a problem with the drug, it’s the crap that goes along with having it the way it is, Illegal.
The idea of a for-profit prison is insane, they loose money if people don’t go to jail which tells me they will have zero desire to rehabilitate. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of people working in our essentials services are of the highest standard but it’s an Insane idea, we have to watch and protect the charter rights and not allow it’s misuse to go unnoticed. To much power in hands of authority is a dangerous beast to battle.
And once again I have to say your right, once again eh, it is difficult for me to keep one thing on my mind, and I do not want it any other way, it keeps me sane.
We should never fear our cops, and they should never have to fear us. But we can’t put all the blame one the cops though, we have to look at the ones making the laws they have to enforce. There is a balance in their Mr.Kramer, too many cops with too much power is a scenario we can’t let happen, but not enough is just as dangerous.
But would you like some reese’s pieces, there hot and fresh and delicious.
Midnightchicken.
FACT, nurses signed a 5% deal. Nobody said the drivers think they are worth more than nurses.
The rostering system would create the same shifts, the same hours.. (because the same buses have to cover the same routes) The difference would be that the management would tell drivers what shifts go together. The overtime would still be out there because it comes from traffic hold ups, concerts, hockey games, fireworks and any other event the city brings in.
the taxpayer ALSO covers the 8% raise that management of Metro Transit got last year… why are your feathers not being ruffled by that? What about the raise council voted for themselves?
OH you are council or management?
There would, of course, still be built in overtime, but what the union spin doctors are not telling is that rostering will greatly reduce the ridiculous amount of overtime accumulated on the spare board.
I can’t understand how the city can say that the overtime is created by the way the drivers pick their work. The shifts the we are supposed to pick from already have overtime built right in them. I noted that 168 of the shifts on the pick schedule have anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour and sometimes more built right into the shift. I haven’t even included the shifts that have from 5 minutes to 25 minutes built in. Another incident that involved overtime was when an employee was dismissed. He subsiquently appealed the decision and won. The city told management at metro transit that he was to be re-enstated to his former position with full pay and benefits. This particular driver was off for almost two years. During that time he was collecting full pay and bebefits while another driver did the shift. So, they were paying two drivers to do one shift. That is the only one that i know of. Another question is how did the revenue collected from the fare box drop to 40 persent from 70 persent. The city claims that ridership is down,well i can’t see that as the buses are filled to the doors every day twice a day. I would submit that a lot of the loss is from that rediculas transfer system that they implimented about two years ago. In some cases passangers are riding around on the buses for free. All you have to do is hop on a bus such as the route 80 to sackville. They pay the fare,2.25 get a transfer and get off the bus on Springgarden road. Now they have a transfer that is good for approx. 3 hours. Each time that transfer is used transit loses 2.25. Now imagime that passanger using that transfer 4 and 5 times for the duration of the time on the transfer. The bus passes are another issue where the person buys a monthly pass, and then loan it out to their friends when they can. So in some cases you can have one person buying the pass and 2 and sometimes three or more people using it. The people purchasing bus passes shoud be required to sign the pass in ink from the time of purchase. When you facter in the few issues, how much money is the company losing.
Again, what about the excessive overtime that spareboard drivers are accumulating. This is NOT about the built in overtime. Do not try and spin this.
I agree with the Driver/s here people,I see how Gullible some of you are,you believe Kelly,(who will try to steal from a friend’s estate,or believe this council,ones like Steve Adams,who cannot even fess up to writing in his comments,but blames it on friends (forgive me ex-friends) or you believe CAO Richard Butts,brought in from Toronto,with no family here and fly’s home every weekend,(wonder who pays for that),come on people give your head a shake,oh and the same person Eddy Robar,who wants to change the system is the same person I am told who laid out the schedule you follow everyday,is also the reason passenger’s cannot make another bus connection,there is not enough time in most cases,and now with wheelchairs allowed on all buses,they will need more time to get you to your desination,{a bus driver told/showed myself how it worked after I commented on missing my connection} I have been told by a few drivers,if the Union had some say in the Rostering,then they would be more comfortable,I can see where driving 8-10 hours where they would like a break to stretch,I agree a 8-10 hour run where you get 3-5 minutes (if you have no delays) is not enough,and on some run’s there is not even anywhere to use the washroom,I donot think I would like to have to go I know that and have a lot of cranky people getting on to boot. Goodluck Driver’s,you deserve to have a voice,when most news outlets,and people,donot want to listen. ps,,,I think it would be in the best interest of the Union,to hire a Public Relations person,nothing against anyone,but I think a new face/voice,will help you out,while your team does what they do.
BRoc, Spareboard operators have to work 6 days a week. So yes sometimes they get over 40 hours of work. But there are a lot of weeks where they are there 6 days and don’t get 40hrs so it evens out.
So somehow, what you are saying the $20K + annually that some spareboard drivers make in overtime evens out? I seriously doubt it. For those who think that oh so honorable union has more clout and credibility than the city, you guys just further more opinion of the likes who would take Mr Bousquet’s “journalism” as the whole truth.
BRoc, are you a city councilor? You must be. It’s the only way I can figure you out. After everything that has been written about council and the Mayor in the last couple of years, in this paper and other news sources, you still believe in them. It is good to know that there is still some optimism out there.
In the last 6 months they have cut out most of the 20k you are talking about. They have hired so many drivers that a dozen of them sit at home everyday and get payed to sit at home. I really do suggest you talk to a driver sometime. I think you could learn a thing or two. Especially if you are a councilor. Most of the drivers are actually nice people doing a job that most people couldn’t handle. And after you talk to a bus driver then try to talk to a management person or a councilor. Let me know how that turns out for you…..
I have talked to bus drivers, and in fact, know quite a few. Here’s the bottom line, the city wants rostering. Plain and simple. What makes the union and every government hater on here so right? The union doesn’t want to change for the simple reason that they are afraid of change. What are they afraid of? Rostering is the industry standard and will make scheduling cheaper and more efficient on top of cutting overtime. Again, this issue is being overblown by the union simply because they can. Unions should be abolished. They serve no modern day purpose and do no good but to hold employers (and in this case, the public) hostage.
As far as I can see rostering generated a lot of heat around. I’m really surprised to hear that MT management keeps saying this system is the cause of overtime. Let me strongly disagree with that- it has nothing to do with OT. I’m an HRM Ferry Service employee. We never had cherry-pick system in our department, it was always block system (or rostering, whichever way to call it) where 5 different shifts stay the same over the year & rotate on a weekly basis without any seniority being involved. Yet some of our employees have to work well over 600 hrs of OT/year, sometimes it’s forced OT, like during special events, whereas normal OT is considered to be around 400 hrs. Years of service proved that it is impossible to get rid of that amount of OT hrs due to sick leave & special events in summer. The greater part of this OT though is a mere mismanagement & mistakes in making up the shifts as well as violations of the present contract by management, causing costly greevances from the union. I guess management wants this rostering at bus driving department just to have overriding control over the shifts to be able to change them any time they want & experiment on their employees as many times as they want, creating a bunch of shitty shifts, making it easy for themselves & miserable for the bus drivers (who cares really?)- that’s what the bus drivers are afraid of! Being treated like crap & many times experiencing operational failures from management’s side, the drivers just lost their faith in management’s ability to handle the schedule in a fair & cost-effective way.
I would also strongly disagree with Mr. Butts’ justification of the expansion of management team due to growth. Nothing grew up in the Ferry Service over the years, but yet the division, previously successfully run by just 1 management professional, nowadays grew up just in a couple of years into 6 management level positions, none of those have ever worked in marine industry ferry service, that resulting in misunderstanding how the system is supposed to function & repetition of those costly mistakes, that we have already gone through years & years ago. Funny to say but our union rep, who is one of the ferry Captains, had to come over to the office every week & help the management out with making up the schedule, due to they were unable to do it properly themselves. Here is my question to Mr. Butts: There are just 30 employees in ferry service, do you really think it is cost effective to have 1 manager per every 5 employees & at the same time be unable to do such a simple thing as scheduling that is a part of manager’s job? Mind the fact that the manager’s salary is 65-74 grands/year- ways more than what the employees are making!
Now regarding our salaries & the level of training. To those folks that are jealous of our salaries & who really think that they can drive a ferry in just a few days of training. In order to work on a boat, everyone has to have marine industry post secondary education, marine documents, a bunch of costly marine courses & experience working on a ship at sea. If to take marine industry standards, HRM Ferry Mechanics are heavily underpaid. In a similar ferry service in Owen Sound (ON) or Marine Atlantic (NS) the wages of just a deckhand is 24 bucks/hr & our mechanics (3-rd class marine engineering specialists) make abt 20/hr. Marine industry standard for 3-rd class engineer is 27 bucks/hr & that is what those companies are paying to their ferry service mechanics. Yet we do not require any increase in our pay although recently a lot of extra responsibilities like Security system were added to our routine duties. Every shipping company in the world recently had to increase wages of marine personnel due to introduction of Marine Security System. To those who claim, that everyone who is not satisfied with management offer, should be fired & look for the job. Well, we are looking for a job right now & if the strike rolls over into April- believe me, a lot of ferry service employees will not come back, due to early spring is the time when lakers start navigation season & there is no problem for a marine officer to land a job on the Great Lakes at this time. Hiring process at HRM is quite a long procedure, the training itself takes 5 weeks & the timing for hiring is gonna be wrong as well- at the beginning of navigation season on the Lakes all marine personnel is busy- there will be no candidates for employment at that time. All in all it’s quite possible that the folks shouldn’t expect any extra services during special events this summer because management will face tremendous problems making up just a regular service merely due to a lack of qualified bodies to run a ferry. Everything in this world has a cost: you wonna get professional service- gotta pay for it accordingly with no complaints!
News Flash….. Metro Transit spends millions on rostering software prior to Sept. 1st, 2011. That is why they want rostering so badly. Some reports are saying as much as 6 million. We haven’t had transit in weeks because of this? Are you kidding me……
Say “smoke and mirrors” again, Hooligan.