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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

Willybru21 said:
toronto.citynews.ca

GO Transit bus drivers, station attendants, safety officers step closer to strike position

More than 2,000 GO Transit workers will be in a strike or lockout position by the end of September, CityNews has learned.
toronto.citynews.ca toronto.citynews.ca
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Just when things are picking up after the pandemic too..

Honestly, I do not see this going in favor of Metrolinx. There is an appetite for higher wages and Metrolinx has a mandate to keep public sector wages low.

I can see Metrolinx offering a very low pay increase if at all. This in turn will cause the Union to strike, trains to go offline (due to no station staff) and Doug Ford to b***h and complain about how unreasonable the unions are.

Realistically, the only way this will be resolved is if Doug Ford gives them a considerable wage increase for the new reality, a cost of living increase that is meaningful.
 
Richard White said:
Just when things are picking up after the pandemic too..

Honestly, I do not see this going in favor of Metrolinx. There is an appetite for higher wages and Metrolinx has a mandate to keep public sector wages low.

I can see Metrolinx offering a very low pay increase if at all. This in turn will cause the Union to strike, trains to go offline (due to no station staff) and Doug Ford to b***h and complain about how unreasonable the unions are.

Realistically, the only way this will be resolved is if Doug Ford gives them a considerable wage increase for the new reality, a cost of living increase that is meaningful.
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If Doug Ford froze nurse wages during the pandemic, it doesn't bode well for Metrolinx.
 
Richard White said:
True but it is coming to the point wherein service quality gets diminished so much that he will have no choice but to raise wages.
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I'm still sceptical, given what has transpired in hospitals. Transit service isn't as pressing to the general population as ER wait times either, so this is less likely to galvanize a critical mass of "Ontarions" - as he would pronounce it - into sustained protest.
Despite it all, I hope within a year's time that this will have blown over, express trains will have returned, etc.
 
Richard White said:
True but it is coming to the point wherein service quality gets diminished so much that he will have no choice but to raise wages.
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This government has some sort of odd mentality around wages; as if it fails to grasp that higher wages equal GDP growth and higher tax revenue.

Its been actively suppressing not only public sector wages, but also private sector wages, in part, through what is becoming one of the lowest minimum wages in the U.S. and Canada, relative to cost of living.

I have posted with some regularity on a number of US Cities and some states with minimum wages, that when currency-adjusted are significantly higher than Ontario's.

But in Canada, we need to look at commitments to $15 minimum wages next year in Manitoba to ascertain the problem in Toronto.

Toronto is somewhere in the range of 40% more expensive to live in than Winnipeg, but even a very conservative estimate of 33% would suggest that if Manitoba's minimum wage is $15 per hour, Toronto's needs to be $20.

But at 40% you would get $21 per hour (still slightly below most living wage calculations, but enough to drastically reduce poverty and increase labour-force participation)

Mx staff and nursing staff are both, on the whole, considerably better paid than a minimum wage earner. But as with minimum wage earners, wages are not keeping pace with any of inflation, peer jurisdictions, or the private sector market.

Its frankly very odd.
 
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felix123 said:
I'm still sceptical, given what has transpired in hospitals. Transit service isn't as pressing to the general population as ER wait times either, so this is less likely to galvanize a critical mass of "Ontarions" - as he would pronounce it - into sustained protest.
Despite it all, I hope within a year's time that this will have blown over, express trains will have returned, etc.
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I agree the hospital situation is more serious; and yet, I would argue less likely to galvanize Ontarians.

For the simple reason that far fewer people in any given month are likely to access a hospital ER vs public transport.

A problem you or an immediate family member/friend does not experience has much lower effect, typically, than those you are directly affected by.
 
Northern Light said:
This government has some sort of odd mentality around wages; as if it fails to grasp that higher wages equal GDP growth and higher tax revenue.

Its been actively suppressing not only public sector wages, but also private sector wages, in part, through what is becoming one of the lowest minimum wages in the U.S. and Canada, relative to cost of living.

I have posted with some regularity on a number of US Cities and some states with minimum wages, that when currency-adjusted are significantly higher than Ontario's.

But in Canada, we need to look at commitments to $15 minimum wages next year in Manitoba to ascertain the problem in Toronto.

Toronto is somewhere in the range of 40% more expensive to live in that Winnipeg, but even a very conservative estimate of 33% would suggest that if Manitoba's minimum wage is $15 per hour, Toronto's needs to be $20.

But at 40% you would get $21 per hour (still slightly below most living wage calculations, but enough to drastically reduce poverty and increase labour-force participation)

Mx staff and nursing staff are both, on the whole, considerably better paid than a minimum wage earner. But as with minimum wage earners, wages are not keeping pace with any of inflation, peer jurisdictions, or the private sector market.

Its frankly very odd.
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Let me put it this way.

I make $60000 annually which would be the equivalent of $28.85 gross per hour. Even now, as I stated before it is hard to afford a place on those wages in Toronto. The average one bedroom rental is $2500 a month in Toronto and I make $3400.00 net monthly. That leaves me with $900 a month for food, utilities, transit and anything else that may come up.

Making $21 an hour would equate to $3360.00 gross a month. That is by no means affordable in Toronto.
 
Richard White said:
Let me put it this way.

I make $60000 annually which would be the equivalent of $28.85 gross per hour. Even now, as I stated before it is hard to afford a place on those wages in Toronto. The average one bedroom rental is $2500 a month in Toronto and I make $3400.00 net monthly. That leaves me with $900 a month for food, utilities, transit and anything else that may come up.

Making $21 an hour would equate to $3360.00 gross a month. That is by no means affordable in Toronto.
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I agree, which makes the current minimum wage, as of October, of $15.50 per hour all the more absurd.

It also highlights that even seemingly good wages (~ the median income in Toronto) are simply too low relative to the cost of living.
 
APTA-2048 said:
It’s not odd at all. Ford’s ideology is based in selfishness, greed, and lack of care for other people. Too blinded by that to see a net benefit and only caring about personal benefit.
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I don't disagree on the latter but still find it odd; for the simple reason that addressing the inadequacy of wages would drive economic growth which will benefit Ford personally and politically, and his supporters.

Put simply, even if one's preferred (if wrong) adage is "Greed is good"; greed here calls for more short-term generosity because it pays back in spades to society's haves as well.
 
Northern Light said:
I don't disagree on the latter but still find it odd; for the simple reason that addressing the inadequacy of wages would drive economic growth which will benefit Ford personally and politically, and his supporters.

Put simply, even if one's preferred (if wrong) adage is "Greed is good"; greed here calls for more short-term generosity because it pays back in spades to society's haves as well.
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Some people also wrongly believe people deserve to suffer based on perceived choices they’ve made. You know, the people who think working a minimum wage job is the result of some personal failing of the individual. “Those people don’t deserve any benefits because I’ve had to work for everything I’ve achieved.” “Maybe they could get a better job if they weren’t so lazy.”
 
APTA-2048 said:
Some people also wrongly believe people deserve to suffer based on perceived choices they’ve made. You know, the people who think working a minimum wage job is the result of some personal failing of the individual. “Those people don’t deserve any benefits because I’ve had to work for everything I’ve achieved.” “Maybe they could get a better job if they weren’t so lazy.”
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It took me 12 years to go from Condo Security to Condo Management. That was through no fault of my own, I busted my ass to get where I am today.

The point I am making is that sometimes working minimum is sometimes no fault of the person, they just do not have the opportunity. I had to wait until the stars aligned before I was able to get where I am today.
 
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