"TTC Facts"

[kkgg7]

the numbers may be misleading, but it nevertheless serve the good purpose of calling more attention to TTC's wage and benefit costs. If you really compare that with their skills/education, and look at what happens in the private sector, the difference may be appalling.

[yin_yang]

Is this a new movement, or just some guy's angry webpage? Whether it should be discussed or not, making this thread is already giving it too much attention.

With that said, I wonder how much better off we would be if employees were encouraged to unionize and better equipped with the tools to do so. Suddenly improved benefits and livable wages wouldn't seem as outrageous as they do now.

We would live a cautiously-optimistic heaven instead of a kleptocratic, confusing mess. A much more humane world. For sure.

[k10ery]

At the top wage of $29.05 an hour (which isn't unreasonable), that's $15.45/hr of other non-cash compensation such as health and dental, pension, vacation pay, etc. That's more than a 50% burden over the actual cash pay. This is even before you take payroll taxes paid by the TTC into consideration.

Thus, the true cost of the top earning operators is probably closer to 160%+ of their actual cash pay. Where I work, this is 135% - I think you'd be hard pressed to find anything over 140% in the private sector.

That's right. The average employee costs the Commission $100,000/year, almost twice the average FAMILY income in Toronto.

Not to mention that the compensation costs do not include the unfunded pension liability, which TTC estimates to be $320 million.

[BMoney]

Is this a new movement, or just some guy's angry webpage? Whether it should be discussed or not, making this thread is already giving it too much attention.

With that said, I wonder how much better off we would be if employees were encouraged to unionize and better equipped with the tools to do so. Suddenly improved benefits and livable wages wouldn't seem as outrageous as they do now.

I haven't gone through the webpage material, so I can't comment on whether they are just being angry, or the validity of their claims - regardless, Brad Ross did confirm the $29.05 top rate. I think it's rather unfair to dismiss someone's argument, even if they are coming from a lunatic, becuase it actually doesn't address whether the issue raised is invalid or unfair. Galileo was dismissed initially as a heretic for suggesting that the Earth was round, something we accept nowadays as a scientific truth - I would be careful of categorically dismissing the argument as you seem to be suggesting, because as noted by others, the main issue noted of compensation being excessive is a fair debate.

As for whether we would be better off if everybody unionized, the truth is that we wouldn't - it's economics 101 - collectively as a society we are only compensated for the value of the goods and services we are able to produce and provide; it's the pie that we all get to divide up amongst ourselves. Improved benefits and wages only comes with increased production and productivity, something that you don't appear to be suggesting. Sure, the gov't can rack up debt to improve benefits and wages today, but someone eventually will have to pay for it through increased output - likely future generations.

The public face of unions these days seem to be that of a body solely dedicated to economic rent-seeking - obtaining a bigger piece of society's fixed income pie at the expense of non-unionized workers. With the advent of social media and hyper-connectivity these days, it's difficult to visualize the need for unions at least from a collective bargaining perspective - why have a union do it if Twitter/Facebook let them do it themselves?

[yin_yang]

Well...economics seem to be crumbling right now and are being replaced with compassion and positive energy, which is the opposite of economics. And that is a benefit to all society, instead of being dualistic. It's just science. And our destiny. We are energy.

[unimaginative2]

Look, yes, TTC employees are generously compensated compared with similar jobs in the private sector. But rather than try and reduce their wages and benefits, we'd be much better served if we focused on making their work more productive. Eliminating excessive overtime, removing workers who are ineffective, changing work rules to reduce redundancy and automating certain positions would be much more useful than trying to cram down 7/11 wages. I'd rather an efficient TTC that has its workers earning a solid middle class life.

Arbitration isn't necessarily a huge problem. The massive changes in CN's work rules that allowed it to be transformed from a chronic money-loser into the most efficient freight railroad in the world came through arbitration. The government simply changed the legislation to make the arbitrator take CN's viability as a going concern into account in his or her decision.

[M II A II R II K]

Not a TTC fact, but it made it one.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...m=red%20rocket


Red Rocket:

- That red hot dog like stick that emerges from a dog's crotch, also known as the pink crayon or the pink lipstick.

- A dog's erect penis. It looks like a shinny hot dog sticking out of a wool sock.

- A big red dog weener.