OC Transpo Ottawa Strike 2008

[HUGETOES]

Well the car dealership owners and salespersons were VERY happy!

[jigokuookami89]

old baseline station i miss you!

[Josh54152]

@jigokuookami89 I miss old Baseline as well.

[jigokuookami89]

old baseline station i miss you

[rawdmon]

That strike was such a load of shit. I had to camp at my buddy's place for over a month and get rides to and from work (while I was working night shifts at the time).

[lamarr912a]

That is a beautiful song.

[danw087]

nice song

[kazrules2007]

The ATU is a total dsigrace to everyone.The picture in the paper after the strike with members of the ATU with their thumbs up almost made me puke!!!BUT...they knew they lost big time and this was their way of pretending they didn't care.Just being smart asses. It's not over yet for them all. Things are going to change for the better.

[peakyone]

The city has to reduce it's offer to the union to 0 means 0.

These drivers should not get one cent more.

[bigguyfilms2008]

It is Larry O'Brien who wants the zero means zero. In his mayoral election push he spoke on end about zero mean zerio. O'Breien might not be around to long if he don't deliver.

[peakyone]

Yes you are correct it was Mayor O'Brien who said zero means zero, but to reach that the unions must be broken as they are just too strong in Ottawa.

We now have about 17,000 employees and I think it would be safe to say that we could do without about 5,000 of them.

[bir2187]

Wow ottawa still has less traffic then any other big city even with no public transit.

Stop being a bunch of babies, it takes me 2 hours to drive to work and its only 20km commute.

[bigguyfilms2008]

Not everyone in the city has a car. So some do have to walk. What if you had to walk 20km to you place of employment? Whould you be smiling and be happy every day?

[bir2187]

I am talking about the babies that have cars. When I used to live in ottawa I used to have to walk 5km a day to get to work because they didn't have buses at that time of day to the miltary base. BABIES!

[stealthmonkeyninja23]

why would people with cars take the bus?

[bigguyfilms2008]

maybe parking is to much downtown and is hard to find a decent spot?

[bir2187]

@bigguyfilms2008 yes I used to walk from Carling/417 to Pinecrest/Baseline. Not sure how far that is but i was smiling the whole way

[777Diem777]

It's time for the people of Ottawa to Rise Up and Revolt!! Mon Jan 26th 2008 Parlament Hill

[larken558]

7 people i know have gotten fired because they couldn't get to work because of this bulls***

[Rawful42]

my friend froze his ass off trying to walk in the cold, i ended up giving him a ride

[MasterPervy123]

Make Oc Transpo an Essential Service. This was Transpo does not hold Ottawa hostage again. This strike is totally Pathetic. Respect & Dignity they say hahaha, What about respect & dignity for the customer?

And the hell with thier flexitime this is the real world , Ordinary People never get flexitime. If bus drivers dont wish to work lets fire them, And find People who want to work. As for the pay Bus Drivers salary is excellent. In fact I think they are overpaid for sitting on thier ass.

[AeinSilverwolf]

Yeah, I've heard the average pay is like 70 thou a year. Also, it's not going to be an essential service because the minister of transportation(?) doesn't think we're suffering enough.

[anthonyromano12]

When the Union decides to implement the operators to their respective positions all customers' should not pay a fare to coincide with each day the strike was in effect. Simply everyone should walk on the bus, say hello, not pay and sit down. Give this watered-down version of organized crime tactics Union a simple taste of what they are doing to this beautiful City of Ottawa.

[kalloosit]

join the petition to get policies in place to protect the cities transportations and boycott Octranspo until our the citizens needs are met. Facebook group called "Boycott Octranspo" open to anyone.

[PeYonka]

I am sick of paying taxi fare... stop the srike.

and by the way what song is this anyone??

[trashers4cashers]

union leader has balls to continue with it..oh well when it ends you can stop bitching LOL..atleast gas is cheap now

[gnredbull]

Yeah, imagine if this strike had happened when gas was around 1.20... Shit, it's like 60 cents a litre now. People wouldn't be able to survive if it was higher up.. Defenitely would be riots.

[MasterPervy123]

Fuck this strike. Lets make oc transpo an ESSENTIAL Service.

Lets Petition for an Essential Service this cannot be allowed to happen again.

[sigridmac]

Man, that Juice Newton song was really great here. How apropos.

I've always been on the side of workers and in favor of the right to strike, but in this case, I believe that public transit is an essential service. The Citizens said that it isn't. Who wrote that? Somebody driving around comfortably in an SUV? Who relies on mass transit -- students, low income, older people and anyone who's trying to be green. How can we be green if we can't rely 110% on public transportation?

[kapwepwe]

i hope the strike ends my life is terribly inconvinienced because of it im totally dependant on the buses

[DJRoxi]

OC Transpo doesn't understand that their worst enemies on this strike are the mentally unstable and the ill whose mental illnesses are going to bring out the nasty sides in everyone. I hope they all realise that they reap what they sow. If some OC driver has the life beaten out of them because they destroyed Xmas and New Years, slaughtered jobs, humiliated the City Of Ottawa and all of its residents, it's because that's the respect that they deserve. Peace and love to all you Ottawans.

[gnredbull]

That's true, I would be scared to be an OC transpo driver getting back on the job. And if not phsyical assualt, there will definetly be much verbal insults being thrown.

[kazrules2007]

We've got the poorest service, the highest fares and the rudest bus drivers ( some nice ones but not many) in the whole of Canada.

[bigguyfilms2008]

yes, the transit system here is not at the level where it should be.

[shhuang3]

I will never say "thank you" to the OCT drivers again in the future. Fuck

[kyle2k5]

Ditto. They'll be lucky if they don't get spit on when this strike is over. Not that some of them didn't deserve it already.

[MasterPervy123]

What about:

Old People without transport

Disabled People Without Transport

Poor Families without Transport

Buisnesses that rely on OC Transport for thier customers.

OC Transpo should be ASHAMED. You Bus Drivers are lazy cunts greedy fuckers that dont care about anyone but thier pockets. A few older Bus Drivers want to be able to choose thier shifts fuck them they should be ashamed lots of People without work.

[MasterPervy123]

Fuck this strike. Lets make oc transpo an ESSENTIAL Service.

[makinawdandy6699]

I don't get this whole thing. The bus workers work for the city (and they are real lucky to have a good job like that with a high school education). Now they say that they demand the right to control when and where they work. Does that make sense to you? Should the police officers, ambulance workers do that too. Just imagine a police saying "Oh, I don't want to go to Westborough". It's not my favorite place to go. Can any of us go in and tell your boss you want to control shedule?

[makinawdandy6699]

This is battle between the citizens of Ottawa and the Union. I am 100% with the city. NO SURRENDER!!!!!

[Gatesysgirl]

This strike is fucking pathetic.. A whole city crippled right at the peek shopping period. I've been pissed off about the whole thing but when I see poor elderly people walking in the fucking cold to get their groceries, people hitchhiking in the streets just so they can get to work, it really makes me sick. Yeah we are a democracy and these guys have the right to strike, but seriously of all the times, why now? Absolutely pathetic.

[rawdmon]

The unions of old were interested in worker safety and in workers being treated fairly. I'm ashamed to see that this particular union has been transformed in to a group of organized extortionists, all organized by a corrupt group of senior drivers. They want to keep rights to scheduling because if they don't it'll ruin the little scheduling scam that they've put so much work in to setting up.

[777Diem777]

Canada will be an international joke this holiday season. Thousands upon thousands of people from countries like Sweden, Finland, Germany etc are coming to the capital city of Canada these holidays for the World Junior Hockey Championship. Most of these countries capital cities have subways, light rails etc as their main source of transportation, meanwhile here in Canada we still rely on old fashioned buses.

[bigguyfilms2008]

Yes back in in 2006 Bob Chiarelli had a light rail plan all planed out and ready to go but some didn't like where it was Headed (North South) The City would of had a good start somewhere but instead the city has nothing because some didn't approve.

[al3xxxxx]

dude where the only big city in canada without a subway everyone else in canada dos its cinda funny we where saposed to have a sub way in the 70's but they said no. this city suck when it comes to transit but everything else here is beutiful

[sketchley80]

LOL - and the nation's capital doesn't even have that going for them! La belle province has them at least! Damn OC Strikers - grow up, stop being so greedy, take the fair offer and stop making life difficult for EVERYBODY - you are losing respect by the second. I hope you don't think we'll come running back to your service......no one owes you a job - especially since you get paid well for a job that requires high school - good lord. Get off yer behinds and back to work! Or quit.

[Paulinacameron]

yeah let them strike all they want, people will get around if they really need to

[hubcap73]

octranspo drivers- drive buses..answers questions and complaints..works holidays...shift work....they drive all day in bad weather and rush hours.. extreamly stessfull..its be compaired to an air traffic controller, aways monitoring your surroundings....not physical job but really mental. highly stressfull jobs. I feel were undervalued. I dont drive but cant call what they do easy. I heard they hiring,for those wouldnt mind being spat at or punched, for asking for the fare.

[Gatesysgirl]

I agree with your statement hubap73. I don't hate all drivers out there I know they work a hard job. but you know, we all do. Some bus driver in the paper the other day was going on about her conditions "People breathe on us all day, they don't respect us" But you know I go to a shitty job every day, get harrassed and threatend by drunks, and you know something? I make minimum wage, I have no benefits, Every job is hard but no matter what you do, you are providing a service, Do your job.

[beleafer81]

Sure its a hard job, but who has it easy? This is life suck it up and accept your deal.

[Demonapunk]

They want respect while they putting people out of work, students out of school, elderly and sick people out of doctors offices, Businesses out of business. Do I have to go on???

They dont give a shit about respect. They DO give a shit about money. They want to keep the rights to scheduling because they want to continue to take advantage of the shift premiums. Which is costing us, tax payers, millions of dollars a year.

They can all have a look at my respectful middle finger!

[Kayjax7]

Bloody wankers. Let em strike til they are broke and beg for talks.