Halifax transit strike: Making claims on society ‘in this economy’

It is transit workers who are being held ransom

By KEVIN CORKILL

NO DOUBT every Canadian has heard the phrase “in this economy.” It is used to explain why we should accept concessions, rollbacks, inflation, unemployment and job insecurity. We are even expected to accept that “in this economy” our claims on society will not be met and cannot be met. Apparently, there are more pressing needs from our economy than meeting the needs of those that produce the wealth in society or provide a valuable service!

A case in point is the transit strike in Halifax, which began February 2. The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 508 and the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) are at loggerheads over scheduling – with the HRM attributing the bus drivers and overtime as too much of a “cost.” They are going so far as to say that “the public is being held ransom” and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 508 is “holding [your] transit system hostage.” Indeed, what the HRM is demanding is to have the ability to outsource any part of the system that is not part of the regular transit schedule – which includes the ferries, maintenance and Access-A-Bus – what the ATU says amounts to almost 200 jobs. In other words, the HRM is looking to auction off this public service to private interests at which time we will indeed be held ransom to the interests of some for-profit corporation.NO DOUBT every Canadian has heard the phrase “in this economy.” It is used to explain why we should accept concessions, rollbacks, inflation, unemployment and job insecurity. We are even expected to accept that “in this economy” our claims on society will not be met and cannot be met. Apparently, there are more pressing needs from our economy than meeting the needs of those that produce the wealth in society or provide a valuable service!

What is happening here is part of the arrangements being brought in on a larger scale in Canada – which is to politicize private interests, depoliticize public interests and destroy public assets. In the scenario being played out between the HRM and transit workers, the HRM is claiming that the skyrocketing costs of providing transit service, including high overtime costs, are a justification for its demand for concessions and outsourcing. It even began a campaign saying that it is the taxpayers who will have to pay and it is the taxpayers’ money they are trying to save! All for our sakes! How nice. What they don’t explain is that the problem of overtime is due in large part to service and management demands. Also, that any for-profit service would be a complete drain as the cost of service would be higher and those profits would be lost to wherever the for-profit service provider decides. In other words, HRM is claiming it is providing a solution but in fact is just demanding concessions from those who provide the service and not resolving any problem at all!

The fact that there is truth in HRM’s claim that there is difficulty in providing mass transit in the region does not justify their perverse logic that the ATU should accept losing control over scheduling (seniority rules), more difficult working conditions and privatization. In fact, it is in the public interest to recognize the providers of transit service and their rightful first claim on the value they produce as part of providing these services to the people and improving them!

Any serious solutions to the problem of properly funding public services must begin with the recognition of the need for a human-centred alternative and a new direction for the economy. So, it is true that “in this economy” it is the workers, our public healthcare, transit, schools and all other institutions that are being held ransom to the demands of the monopolies and those who do not recognize the need for a new direction of the economy that favours the people and puts their claims on it in first place.

Forget “in this economy.” The issue is “Whose Economy? Our Economy!”

This article was first published in TML Daily, March 1, 2012, No. 27 and also appears in Tony Seed’s Weblog

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