Segacs's World I Know

Looks like there will be a transit strike in Ottawa. Barring a last-minute deal, workers are set to walk off the job at midnight. In the middle of snowy, blizzardy weather. With no alternate means of transport for the thousands of people who will be left stranded.

The union workers are being offered a 7% raise over three years. Most of the people who rely on public transit for their livelihood would kill for that kind of cushy deal. The people hit hardest by transit strikes are the poor, the elderly, students, and those who have the fewest options. Many of them won’t be able to get to work. Many of them will likely lose pay or even their jobs. But the OC Transpo union still sees fit to hold the public hostage in its attempts to negotiate for more.

Once again, this only illustrates how incompatible unions are with public monopolies. A strike in the private sector targets the employer; a strike in the public sector targets the public. Whatever your stance on labour issues, it’s obvious that the system is broken.

To those of you in Ottawa: Good luck.

Related posts:

1. The system’s broken
2. Transit strike over… for now
3. Transit strike over
4. One-timers
5. NYC transit strike

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