2% garbage fee increase recommended for 2010

Toronto residents, who went without curbside garbage pick-up for six weeks during the municipal strike, will still see their garbage fees increase 2 per cent in 2010 if city council accepts the recommendation of staff.
The increase would translate into an extra cost to residents of $4 to $8 per household.
The recommended fee increase comes as the city says it saved $33.2 million during the strike.

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Union Wins

Toronto's city councillors have voted to accept a deal reached with two civic unions following a strike that lasted nearly six weeks.

The vote happened shortly before 7 p.m. on Friday night. Councillors voted 21-17 in favour of the deal between the City of Toronto and Locals 416 and 79.

The councillors began debating the matter at 9:30 a.m. on Friday morning, when Mayor David Miller urged his fellow City Hall members to vote in favour of the settlement. Full Story from CTV News.

CUPE: WORKING FOR YOU - NOT!

The picture says it all.

Letter To Kyle Rae

I wrote a letter to Toronto Centre-Rosedale city councilor Kyle Rae today to express my displeasure with this ongoing nut squeezing of the city of Toronto by greedy unions.

After reading Mr. Rae's reply, my conclusion is that city council, or at the very least Councillor Rae is passing the buck by saying;

"the Mayor has indicated that the proposed settlements fall within the bargaining parameters established by the City's Labour Relations Committee.".

In other words, they get to keep banking sick days and ripping us off even though it has been recently reported that the fund only has something like less than half of the amount needed to pay off these gougers. I am sick and tired of this nonsense.

And while we're on the topic, is there some logical reason why a TTC collector is being paid more than 125K a year? He's a friggin TTC collector for gods sake, and now he is charged with stealing from the TTC. I guess 125K isn't enough for some people! Is it just me or has this city gone completely fucking insane!

Here is my letter and Kyle Rae's reply:

I am NOT impressed by Mr. Miller's total lack of concern for the
citizens of Toronto. Letting the union workers bank sick days is just
another step towards bankrupting this city. I will not be voting for
him, or you in the next election should you decide to approve this rip
off of a deal. Fire these lazy bastards and give the jobs to people
who really want to work and save us all some money. This council is a
JOKE!

By the way, it has come to my attention that you don't feel the need
to reply to your constituents emails. You may want to rethink that
stance.

Mark Daye, Toronto

Hello Mark,

Thank you for your email.

I have yet to see the details of the tentative agreements. However, the Mayor has indicated that the proposed settlements fall within the bargaining parameters established by the City's Labour Relations Committee. These parameters reflect the City's ability to pay during what are certainly challenging economic times.

Again, thank you for writing. I appreciate your candid feedback.

Kyle

Since this post, I noticed a friend wrote to Kyle today too. He got the same reply. Word for word. So, Kyle (or a staffer) is obviously just pounding out the canned reply to anyone who mentions the strike.

Day 30 Strike News

• George Smitherman was accosted by a strikers wife in what quickly turned into a bad PR stunt as he swept up garbage.
• City Hall has started issuing building permits again.
• Toronto stinks, but the scent varies depending on the neighborhood, temperature and amount of precipitation.

CUPE Picks on Poor

Strikers told to halt 'offensive' activity at welfare offices

City threatens 'strongest possible action' unless picketers stop delaying non-unionized staff at social assistance sites

LAURIE MONSEBRAATEN 
SOCIAL JUSTICE REPORTER

Homeless for more than a year and penniless since she lost her wallet this week, Cynthia Cronkhite scraped together $2.75 for bus fare to travel to the north Etobicoke welfare office for help.

The office near Pearson airport is one of just three still operating since civic workers went on strike June 22. The remaining 11 offices are closed, forcing people such as Cronkhite, who lives near the city's Queensway office, to travel long distances for service.

At least once during the first week of the strike the north Etobicoke office was closed by picketers who stopped management staff from entering until late in the afternoon. Last week, about a dozen unionized staff who tried to go back to work clashed with their striking colleagues on the picket line, resulting in calls to police. Two security guards are now posted at the main entrance and two private investigators have been capturing everything on camera, although those workers remain on the sidelines.  Read the full story 

Source:thestar.com

Toronto Stinks!

Just a week after Mayor David Miller took to the airwaves to defend Toronto over a U.S. newspaper report about its garbage strike, Canada's own Maclean's magazine features a cover declaring "Toronto Stinks."

It depicts Miller in a trash can with a banana peel on his head, and a pair of raccoons beside a mound of garbage.

The mayor responded Friday by telling a news conference Toronto is "a remarkable place" and that "the resilience of Torontonians in the face of a four-week strike demonstrates that."

Miller went on CNN last week to urge American tourists to visit the city after an article in the San Francisco Chronicle made Toronto seem like a hazardous vacation destination.

In the newspaper's World Travel Watch section, Canada heads a list of notable countries, ahead of troubled regions like Honduras, Mexico, North Africa and Thailand.

The strike by about 24,000 inside and outside workers has halted garbage pickup and a host of other city services.

I was going to show you the cover of Macleans but those losers don't show their cover on their website. In fact, MacLeans is published by Rogers. Rogers also has a search service with Yahoo! I don't recommend it. If you take a look at my search results you will see how effective it is. I suggest you do as I normally do and continue to use Google.ca

Message for Miller; Next time you decide to jump into bed with union whores maybe you might want to watch Fatal Attraction first. This mess is YOUR fault, stop letting unions hold the rest of the city hostage. Your complete lack of leadership makes me sick, I will go out of my way to remind people NOT to vote for you, should you have the a repeat lack of judgement and run for office again! Although, if this goes on much longer, citizens are going to start demanding your resignation.

Toronto's Had Enough!

An anti-strike rally was held outside Toronto's city hall on Wednesday by dozens of frustrated residents who say they've had enough of the job action.

The rally, organized by a group calling themselves "Toronto's Had Enough," gathered outside city hall just before noon and marched opposite a group of union workers who have been picketing at the site since the strike began on June 22.

The civic strike is now in its 24th day and has frozen services such as garbage collection and permit approvals. It has also shut down daycares, public swimming pools, summer camps and has slowed paramedic response times to non-emergency situations.

The two groups yelled at each other, with union members asking frustrated residents to "know the facts" and inform themselves of the issues.

"Get back to work," the anti-strikers retorted. Full Story

Way to go Toronto's Had Enough. These striking losers deserve to be fired. I'm sick and tired of them and Miller who has shown us what a useless 'leader' he really is.

CTV lifts rock: Mel speaks

Mayor David Miller should have gone to court weeks ago to bar striking garbage workers from blocking residents at trash transfer stations, says former mayor Mel Lastman.

"I think the way we're treating the citizens of Toronto is disgraceful," he told CTV News Channel Monday evening.

Residents have been growing increasingly frustrated with lengthy wait times at Toronto waste transfer stations.

Full Story

Union must adjust attitude: Miller

City negotiators have been granted more flexibility to settle the 17-day strike by municipal workers, but Mayor David Miller says it's the union - not the city - that has to change its attitude to end the walkout.

"The goals remain the same as when the strike started," Miller told reporters this evening after a two-and-a-half-hour closed-door session with city councillors, the first briefing since the walkout began June 22.

Source: The Star

It seems Mayor David Miller is continuing to bet on the public being pissed off at the union and not at him for this ongoing strike.  The city streets are beginning to look pretty disgusting with garbage littering the curbs and there is no end in sight. Meanwhile, city run daycare centres and other important services are not available to the public, while the union moans for the greedy old days.

Green Bins: A Wasted Effort?

The City of Toronto boasts that its green bin program diverts a third of our garbage and turns it into "black gold" compost. But aStar investigation shows that the program – although nobly conceived – is a sham.

There are two problems. First, the city's claim of how much waste the program diverts from landfill is inflated. Second, some of the compost that is being produced will kill your plants because of its high salt content, according to laboratory tests.

The Star found that, over the past two years, thousands of tons of organics in various stages of the composting process have been dumped into a gravel pit, tossed into landfills or stockpiled on city property. What's more, some of the material residents are told to place in green bins – plastic bags and diapers – has wound up in the belly of a Michigan incinerator, despite Mayor David Miller's vow Toronto will never burn garbage.  Full Story

City Strike Continues

The following is on the CP24.com website today. I think their question is very biased, however, it does demonstrate the lack of public support for the workers. Personally I don't like it very much when a few spoiled members of our city try to blackmail the rest of us. Unfortunatly we can't just fire them all and hire people who actually want to work for a fair wage.

Do you have sympathy for public sector workers who are on strike during tough economic times?
Yes 15% No 82% Undecided 3%

In a related story over at ProudFM.com they also have a poll related to the strike and pride celebrations:

Striking city workers and LCBO staffers oh my! Will you let this ruin YOUR Pride?

1) Um ... garbage everywhere and no booze? Consider it ruined. 8.33%
2) No way. It's called Can't Stop. Won't Stop. for a reason! 87.5%
3) Maybe, it sure won't be the same but I'll do my best to be Proud despite the stink and sobriety. 4.17%

Just goes to show it takes more than a few greedy workers to ruin Toronto Pride. By the way, I think the LCBO workers have a fair case, and the city workers are just spoiled and greedy.

No Pride at City Hall

Pride week is underway, but due to the city workers strike the pride flag won't be flying at city hall this year.  

Here's a shot of the CUPE members "working for us" this afternoon. I have to say as far as picketing goes these guys are pretty pathetic. No chant, no rallying cry, not even any walking around carrying signs. Just hiding in the shade and enjoying the beautiful weather.  

How can we be so mean to these poor, unfortunate and hard done by city workers? There obviously is no god!

Stinky Strike Begins!

Source: CP24

Picket lines have formed at several locations on the first day of a strike by about 24,000 civic workers in Canada's largest city.

Two CUPE locals, representing 6,200 outside workers and 18,000 inside workers, walked off the job just after midnight.

A range of services, including garbage pickup, city-run daycares, recreation centres, ferry service, and summer camps are affected.

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