Ottawa transit back-to-work order unnecessary: city lawyer
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 | 6:05 PM ET
CBC News
Ottawa's transit strike poses no immediate danger to the safety or health of the public, and therefore it isn't necessary to designate regular transit services essential, the city's lawyer told city council Wednesday, the 43rd day of the strike.
City clerk and solicitor Rick O’Connor said that is the conclusion of his analysis of residents' submissions to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, according to a City of Ottawa news release.
The city has submitted a response to the board, the release said,
The board has power under the Canada Labour Code to order employees back to work during a strike "to prevent an immediate and serious danger to the safety or health of the public."
Thus far, only Para Transpo, OC Transpo's door-to-door service for people with disabilities, has been deemed an essential service. It has continued to operate throughout the strike by the 2,300 transit drivers, dispatchers and maintenance workers who walked off the job on Dec. 10.
In December, federal Labour Minister Rona Ambrose ordered the industrial relations board to look at agreements between the City of Ottawa and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279, which represents the transit workers, regarding essential services. The board took submissions from the public as part of that process.
The city did admit in its statement that the strike has "unequivocally" had an impact on some individuals, if not an immediately serious and dangerous one.
Dr. Isra Levy, the city's chief medical officer of health, said the city is monitoring the impact of the strike on those people and their ability to get food or income, attend medical appointments, fill prescriptions and access public health and mental health services during the strike.
City council voted Wednesday afternoon to provide another $500,000 to help the poor, people with disabilities and others hardest hit by the city's transit strike. A day earlier, the city reported it had already spent more than $200,000 on measures such as taxi chits to help vulnerable residents.
No new talks have been scheduled between the union and the city since the workers walked off the job.
No back-to-work legislation planned: feds
Earlier Wednesday, Labour Minister Ambrose told reporters that the government has no plans to legislate Ottawa transit employees back to work.
When asked by reporters Wednesday if there is any appetite for such legislation, given the financial suffering the strike has caused, Ambrose responded, "No."
She added: "The quickest way for buses to get back on the streets is for both of these parties, for both the union and the city, to get back to the table and come up with a negotiated agreement... It's the responsibility of both these parties to get back to work."
Federal mediators continue to work closely with both sides, she said, responding to questions on her way out of the Conservative caucus meeting.
OC Transpo, the public transit company owned and run by the City of Ottawa, falls under federal rather than Ontario jurisdiction because some of its routes pass into Quebec.
Demand for help soars
On Wednesday morning, the head of an agency that serves some of the city's most vulnerable residents reported that his group's phones have been ringing off the hook since it started publicizing its help line for people hit hard by the transit strike.
"As soon as the word got out, our switchboard was jammed," said Jack McCarthy, executive director of the Somerset West Community Health Centre.
He told CBC's Ottawa Morning that his facility, one of 14 community health centres across the city that are co-ordinating city measures to help the vulnerable, gets calls for help from about 60 people a day and has given out 350 taxi chits to individuals and organizations in the past three days.
"They've got to put more resources on the table and do it fast."
McCarthy said many of those seeking help are the working poor, who will lose their jobs if they don't show up for work; students with children who need to drop their kids at daycare before going to class; seniors who have trouble getting to medical appointments they booked months ago; and people with mental health issues who are stuck in their homes.
"What does it say about our city when we disadvantage the sick and the poor the most with this kind of strike … and at this time of year when it's so cold and it's so hard for people to get around?"
McCarthy said even giving help such as taxi chits is just a stop-gap measure.
"City council and the ATU have got to get together and solve this and solve it now."
No talks have been held between the two sides since Dec. 23, when the city issued its most recent offer. On Jan. 8, union members voted 75 per cent against that offer.
Since then, both sides have suggested limited arbitration, but have been unable to agree on the conditions. The main issue of disagreement is the City of Ottawa's new proposal for scheduling transit drivers.
