Toronto Transit - "The Better Way"

[Wezil]

Here's one vomit comet you didn't want to be on.

A cellphone call to police from a scared passenger sparked the bust of a TTC driver who allegedly blew three times over the legal limit while behind the wheel of a Lawrence Ave. W. bus yesterday morning.

"This employee will be terminated if it is found he is guilty," TTC Chairman Adam Giambrone said.

"This is a very serious matter -- we don't take it lightly.

"Public safety is our No. 1 priority."

Investigators were also trying to figure out yesterday what prompted the driver to allegedly ignore TTC Transit Control's 11:30 a.m. orders to stop driving near Lawrence Ave. and Weston Rd.

LEFT THE BUS

By the time cops caught up to the bus at Lawrence Ave. and Royal York Rd., not a single passenger remained on the vehicle. Police believe the passengers, concerned for their own safety, left the bus at regular stops or en masse at a stop along the route.

This prevented police from being able to speak with witnesses, Toronto Police Det. Eduardo Wulff said yesterday.

"It appears the passengers were concerned enough that they decided to leave the bus," he said.

Police did an initial breath test at the scene with a screening device, Wulff said.

A second, more thorough breath test done at 22 Division station allegedly showed a blood-alcohol content three times over the legal limit, Wulff said.

Satvinder Bisla 48, of Concord, faces a charge of impaired driving with a blood-alcohol content of more than 80 mg in 100 ml of blood.

Police were appealing to any of the passengers on the bus to call Crime Stoppers at 416-222-TIPS (8477).

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2008/06/04/5767181-sun.html

[Agathon]

Lawrence West? I took that bus a few times.

He sucks, the best TTC driver is the dude on the St Clair streetcar who entertains customers with stories about how horrible his job is and how **** his bosses are.

[Wezil]

Doesn't that describe most TTC workers?

You see what happens when they get a raise? They blow it on booze.

[Asher]

Note: There is more than one bus driver on the Lawrence West route.

[Asher]

Speaking of Toronto-area union stupidity, how about them auto workers in Oshawa?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Wezil
Doesn't that describe most TTC workers?

You see what happens when they get a raise? They blow it on booze.

The TTC isn't bad. It's certainly a lot better than London Transport (I could have bought human organs for the price I paid to get from Heathrow to King's Cross). At least the subway cars are a decent size. It is too expensive and under utilized, although gas prices might fix that.

Anything is better than the Newcastle Metro. It's full of drunk psychopathic Geordies at the North end, and landwhale Mackem girls with their ground scraping boobs and 10 screaming brats at the Mackem end.

[Asher]

Under utilized? **** off, have you ever seen the Spadina streetcar during rushhour? Or even been ON a subway during rushhour?

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Asher
Speaking of Toronto-area union stupidity, how about them auto workers in Oshawa?

That was a potential thread...

[Asher]

Their stupidity angers me greatly.

[Wezil]

Be fair though. GM leadership was either incredibly incompetent or they were blatantly dishonest.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Wezil
Be fair though. GM leadership was either incredibly incompetent or they were blatantly dishonest.

It's a car company, it's both.

But when the factories make products no one is buying anymore, even though the union throws a tantrum, you gotta close it.

This kind of **** is exactly why GM/Ford/etc suck so much ass.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Asher

It's a car company, it's both.

But when the factories make products no one is buying anymore, even though the union throws a tantrum, you gotta close it.

This kind of **** is exactly why GM/Ford/etc suck so much ass.

Agreed but do you not find it a shade dishonest to provide job security in exchange for worker concessions in the contract signed two weeks ago only to have the company renege on the deal?

One of two things happened - 1) GM knew the situation two weeks ago and led the union down the garden path, or 2) They didn't realise their position and can only be considered grossly incompetent.

I don't know what one of the two it was but the union isn't the only culprit here.

So others know what we are talking about...

OSHAWA, Ont. - Angry General Motors employees gathered outside the company's Canadian head office early Wednesday morning to protest the closure of its truck assembly plant in Oshawa, Ont.

At least 100 workers have gathered so far, with more expected throughout the day, said Chris Buckley, president of the Canadian Auto Workers union Local 222.

"We're going to stay here until General Motors reverses that decision or at the very least, until somebody in General Motors Corporation tries to justify to us why they have violated our brand new collective agreement," he said.

"We'll be here as long as it takes."

The protest could be just the first step in an ongoing protest against the automaker's plans - which will leave about 2,600 people unemployed - although GM plant workers were being encouraged to continue working, he added.

"We are encouraging our members in the plants to continue to build cars and trucks, we are not asking our members to withdraw our services."

A spokesman for GM said the company understood the union's concerns and is willing to meet with Buckley to talk.

"There is a protest going on at our headquarters building and that's, frankly, understandable because this is a very tough thing for employees to go through and for the union to go through and us as well," said Stew Low, GM's director of communications.

Low said the company would be willing to meet with the union to explain its decision, which is a reflection of the changing market for more fuel-efficient vehicles.

"We'd love nothing better than to be continuing to build pickup trucks in great volumes but the thing that is going on in the U.S. marketplace and to a certain degree in the Canadian marketplace is consumers are moving away from big trucks to cars and smaller crossover vehicles and we're transforming to be a part of that," he said.

"This is a very difficult thing to go through, it's a tough decision that we've made but it's made in the context of providing customers with the kinds of vehicles that they want."

On Tuesday, GM announced that four North American truck assembly plants - including the one in Oshawa - would be closed.

The company said the shutdowns were in response to "recent developments on the global oil scene" that have led to high gasoline prices, which represent "a structural change, not just a cyclical change" in consumer demand and the company's prospects.

CEO Rick Wagoner said at the annual meeting in Delaware that the Oshawa pickup truck plant east of Toronto will cease production in the third quarter of 2009 "and we don't have plans to allocate future products" - meaning a probable permanent closure of the factory.

The CAW immediately warned that the decision would not be accepted.

"This is not going to happen without a fight," Canadian Auto Workers president Buzz Hargrove declared at a news conference.

Asked how the union would respond, he said: "Watch us."

Hargrove said the union wasn't ruling out anything and "will explore all options." He declined to be specific, but when asked whether the options included a wildcat strike or legal action against the company, the union leader said "everything is on the table."

Tuesday's cuts are another blow to the battered manufacturing sector in Ontario and Quebec, which has been decimated by layoffs and closures in the lumber, auto assembly, textiles and auto parts sectors. A high Canadian dollar and a slump in the United States have squeezed exports in those industries and produced widespread streamlining at the so-called Big Three carmakers - GM, Ford and Chrysler.

At GM Canada, the CAW says 2,600 face job losses as a result of the closure and noted that GM's workforce in Oshawa will be half the size it was 20 years ago, falling from 20,000 in the late 1980s to about 9,000 this year. About 5,400 people work at an adjacent car plant in Oshawa which GM will keep open and may expand with a new product.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday his government would try to recoup part of a $175-million provincial loan earlier than planned if GM was found to be violating minimum job levels specified in their agreement.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/06/04/5767571-cp.html

[Asher]

I think guaranteeing job security in contracts is ridiculously stupid, and anyone relying on that is also ridiculously stupid.

[Wezil]

Contracts are legal documents.

[Asher]

Which is why GM will have to pay the fee to back out.