City
TTC Employees Battle Back
As reported in today's Morning Brew, TTC employees fed up with being repeatedly shamed in the media have decided to battle back, and may even initiate a work-to-rule campaign. The creation of a members-only Facebook page has served as the occasion for employees to turn the tables by sharing photos of transit riders behaving badly, including those depicting feet on seats, graffiti and subway cars strewn with trash.
Apparently the irony of such a response is lost on our friendly TTC workers.
As frustrating as it must be to be vilified in public -- particularly for those who do their jobs well -- calling out riders for their misdeeds is childish and misguided. Last time I checked, passengers weren't being remunerated for their travels on public transit.
While there's little doubt that some people are slobs, a Facebook page that highlights this fact is yet another in a series of public relations missteps.
It's likely that this particular employee reaction is a direct response to the stern statement TTC General Manager Gary Webster delivered on Saturday. Citing their role in "allowing the TTC to drift into a culture of unacceptable operating discipline," Webster's memo was certainly an embarrassing public admonishment.
But, given the events of the last month, it's not surprising that the GM has taken to the offensive in trying to restore the reputation of his management system.
More worrisome than employee complaints about riders are the rumblings of a work-to-rule campaign. As reported in the Globe this morning, a member of the Facebook page posted a "Reminder to work to rule on Monday. Check out ATU site."
No confirmation can be found on the (Amalgamated Transit Union) site, but certain areas can only be accessed by employees.
Bob Kinnear and the rest of the union brass are keeping their lips sealed for now, which is probably a good thing. Kinnear's comments about the sleeping fare collector a couple of weeks ago were anything but well received.
While it remains to be seen what effect a Facebook page that now has 307 members will ultimately have, February 17 looms as an important date, as the TTC will report on the start of its recently implemented customer service initiatives at that time.
What do you think? Is it only normal that TTC employees would want to vent? Does the fact that the group is members-only help to save another PR disaster? Has anybody joined? What do you think of the photos?
Update (1:00 p.m.):
The Star is reporting that Bob Kinnear has broken the silence by confirming that the call for a work-to-rule campaign did not come from the union, and that no evidence of such action could be found through this morning's commute.
He also spoke to the frustration of TTC employees.
"We've got 13 and 14-year-olds that feel that they have an entitlement to film our operators in the performance of their duties, and that's not acceptable," Kinnear complained.
I understand that most are uncomfortable being filmed while working, but what's with trash talking the kids? The reason they would feel entitled to film TTC operators -- if indeed they do -- is that pretty much everything is filmed nowadays, including the customers who use the TTC.
And, if my logic is sound, had the operators been "performing their duties," there wouldn't be this frenzy of attention on TTC employees.
Photo by End User, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
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For those who don't know:
Work-to-rule: A job action in which employees do no more than the minimum required by the rules of a workplace in order to cause a slowdown.
Ha ha ha!! All we want is for the TTC workers to at least be at the level of work-to-rule!!
Please TTC employees, work-to-rule! That's all that we Torontonians are asking for...
http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/
so drivers are breaking the by laws, to record passengers breaking the by laws, now that is ironic.
We are their customers. We are the ones ELECTING to pay $3.00 a trip, that puts food on their tables and cloths on their family's backs. We, the public, feel like the services we are paying for are not being rendered in a satisfactory way, and yet they feel slighted by our complaints. If we were talking about a coffee shop with poor customer service, then the result might be the coffee shop going out of business. However, the TTC has no competition and the majority of their customers require their service. They are in a unique position where their customers need to return, despite the quality of service.
I would only like to see a little respect from the TTC by acknowledging the public's dismay. Your services could be better; please ask yourselves, as every other business does, how you can provide better a better service for your customers.
The thrust of this bylaw is intended to prevent individuals or groups from profiting without the TTC getting it's fair share of revenue from licenses and permits - not to prevent frustrated riders from capturing the disgraceful actions of certain employees.
The bottom line is to ask yourself: "Do I stand to make any monetary gain from this video or picture?"
Is the answer no?
Well then my friend, feel free to snap and film away.
http://jackandcokewithalime.blogspot.com/
www.trashtalkthettc.com
There are several users who are on both.
They are acting like babies- and I hope they get called out for it.
Gary Webster puts some words on a paper and the Union didnt like it-so what. Here, let me send them a tissue box.
Do they really think that they are above and beyond criticism?
The decline in service while increasing fares is just abit too much- they really dont get it.
This time it's the TTC service. $3.00 a ride is expensive for some people but if the staff and service sucks, then it's a serious problem.
To the TTC management. Apologize all you want but it's time to roll up your sleeves and get rid of your truant staff. Replacing them with fresh and 'willing to work' people will get rid of your negative way of servicing the taxpayers of this city.
It's funny, if you had asked me a month ago about this issue I would have been neutral. Now, because of all the vitriol directed against TTC employees and the endless union-bashing, I completely support what they're doing. Just because one or two employees are slacking doesn't justify the hostility directed against all TTC employees. In any large group of people there are always going to be a few bad apples but the group as a whole shouldn't be judged solely on the actions of a few.
I think riders have every right to take pictures of sleeping employees and the like and post them on the internet and send them to the media. Why? Because it's the only option we have right now to get any sort of change. We *should* have the option of sending those pictures directly to the TTC and having something done about the problem, but we don't.
I think that it's only natural for the employees to want to vent. They're human, and a lot of them are very good at their jobs... this whole situation isn't really fair to them. Life isn't fair, though, and it could be good for them if the TTC actually manages to clean up the system. I'm not sure most of them have thought of that... or maybe they are like us, and aren't really expecting anything to change.
I don't think the employees should retaliate by taking pictures of customers breaking the rules. They are public servants. They work for the city. And we pay their salaries. It's only natural that we should take a vested interest in whether or not they are doing the job for which we are paying them. At other jobs, managers are usually on top of this sort of thing, but with how spread out the TTC is, managers can't be everywhere. SOMEone has to keep the employees accountable, and until the TTC comes up with a better way to do it themselves, then that someone is us.
On the other hand, the customers who are breaking the rules are ruining it for the rest of us. WE should be taking pictures of them. Charging the doors on the subway slows the trains down (and for crying out loud, there's another train coming in just a couple of minutes!) and that ends up costing *us* money. Putting your feet up on a seat puts whatever is on the bottom of your shoes on the seat. I feel a bit silly having to point that out, but have you looked at the bottom of your shoes lately? I don't want that crap on the back of my pants. And it costs us money, because we pay someone to clean. The bottom line is, it's *public* transit, and we need to claim it as our own.
As for the work-to-rule thing... I'm with the previous poster: it seems like that would be an improvement, and I wonder how many of these guys will have to look up their job descriptions before they can pull this sort of thing off.
i.e.: today:
-Streetcar driver said good morning to me before I said good morning to him. (+1)
-Streetcar driver very politely used P.A. to ask us t move back in the car instead of using the canned pre-recorded message (+1)
-Ticket booth guy reading some shit and not paying attention whatsoever to me (or the 2 people behind me) showing him my transfer (-1)
Then why a UNION?
And it's not "harrassment" to note when someone isn't doing their job. The Facebook group should check their dictionaries.
I can't even imagine anymore what the TTC would be like if everyone - riders and staff - followed the rules and used basic common sense and courtesy. I can't even imagine it happening. Sad.
But then I reallized it' their JOB to be courtious to us, to clean p after us and to take us places (*on TIME!)
The problem isn't the employees, it's the company's repeated lack of customer service and communication training. Cars may break from time to time and drivers can have an off-day (*phsycologicaly), we're human after all, but the company should take full blame for all these occurances.
Which i think it's now doing.
This Facebook page is a logical responce from these employees, but it's really not their fault.
On the workers side, i have seen a lot worse behavior, morals, and work ethic in a lot of other union shops - so we should not be too brutal.
What else are you going to do with these people? Welfare = the health problems + crime that comes with it (both paid for by the public)? - not to mention the ruined families, leading to future delinquents - a vicious spiral. Sometimes the best place in a socialized system for the low-value employee is a union job, where it at least distracts them from having a worse society-supported lifestyle.
What exactly is their point? That because some riders put their feet up or litter that makes it okay for the employees to slack off? Just goes to show you how spoiled and out of touch with reality these losers are.
So you're saying that TTC employees are so unskilled, uneducated, etc, that they're incapable of getting any other job? I mean, on one hand that's hard to disagree with these days, but come on... to claim that no union equals welfare and higher crime is a MASSIVE leap.
Work to rule will make a lot of those hard working TTC employees tired at the end of the shift :)
If a TTC employee fails to do their job, treats riders poorly and embarrasses the whole service, they *might* get suspended (with pay!) or moved to another job (where they'll organize illegal strikes).
The janitorial staff is there to take out the trash in the trash cans and take out the recycling in the recycling bins; they shouldn't have to clean up graffiti because *there shouldn't be any to clean up*. They shouldn't have to work to keep buses, trains, and streetcars clear of litter *because there shouldn't be any*.
While I understand unnoticed bits of litter falling out of one's overly-stuffed pockets while trying to get gloves out or fare out, deliberately dumping the contents of your pockets on the floor thinking that someone should be along to clean up after you is just ridiculous (and yes, I've seen it happen -- not 5 feet from trash and recycling bins, too). Neither is it appropriate to stash your transfers between seats, leave your half-empty bottles/cans/cups laying around, half-eaten muffins/sandwiches/chip bags, or newspapers laying on, under, or behind seats.
I'd say something about how the TTC staff isn't supposed to look after you like your mother, but your mothers shouldn't be following you around cleaning up your trash, either.
Take some personal responsibility, people. Jeez.
That said, the fact that *some* TTC riders are slobs doesn't mean the TTC should excused for the shoddy service and toxic attitudes of *some* of their employees. As the saying goes, "being half-right doesn't mean you weren't wrong."
I worked for the LCBO for 2 days at Christmas
QUIT the 2nd day. The employees are bitter. Don't want to work there. But are protected by the Union. Queen's Quay Store is the worst.
They yell at you. Tell customers to hurry up as they are 'closing'....bad bad karma!
That's not okay. It's amazing what you're requesting. "I would like to make your job more difficult for you, AND I would like you to do it much better."
You want transit to run on-time. However, you also want drivers to constantly be cleaning up after you for being a pig. Please tell me how these two things fit in together. I'm pretty sure you can't drive and clean at the same time. I mean, I could be wrong.. but really.
After the last month of TTC passengers psycho-paparazzi stalking of TTC employees, they have every right to be pissed off. The people complaining are usually complete hypocrites. They're the ones that are rude to the drivers and get indignant when there is an uncontrollable delay. Great.
This is a two-way street, people. You don't get to be a jerk to somebody and expect them to blow sunshine up your asshole in response. I don't care who is paying for what - regardless of what you're paying, being rude is NOT the right answer. There are perfectly polite ways to address your issues. Try it sometime.
I've never had a TTC employee be anything but friendly towards me.
Additionally, the service here is leaps and bounds better than the many smaller cities I've lived in with comparable fares. The unusable Yellowknife Transit (comes once an hour) to the "hope you have another way to get to work" Kingston Transit, and the BARELY passable London transit all have similar fares. Maybe I'm just capable of appreciating what I have.
This sad little mini-saga has inspired me to start a list of reasons why people should cycle in the city...
http://thumbshift.wordpress.com/2010/01/22/1st-reason-to-ride/
Guess what's at the top of my list !
Nobody is saying it's okay to do that, just like nobody's saying it's the driver's responsibility to perform janitorial duties -- the only person saying that is you, just so you can prop your straw man of an argument up.
I don't want my bus driver to have to clean up people's mess. I want him to stick to his schedule, be courteous and helpful, and make sure I arrive at my destination in one piece.
No one is asking for the right to be a jerk to a TTC employee. All riders want is for the TTC operators to perform their duties in a competent manner with a level of service one would expect at a fast food restaurant. It's not a big ask. The "psycho-papparazi stalking" has been brought on the TTC through their own utter ineptitude and laziness (or rather, a small minority of the TTC -- all the more reason the good employees need to crack down on their lazy and rude brothers and sisters)... people are filming the day to day ridiculous that goes on because they are OH SO TIRED of it, and are OH SO TIRED of nothing getting fixed when they complain. The TTC operators have absolutely no one to blame but themselves -- or rather again, the shitty minority of operators. The TTC needs to clean house of these clowns, the good employees need to stand up and start saying to their co-workers that their antics are not acceptable. The photographing and filming will stop when there is nothing worthwhile to film -- do you see people filming in restaurants? No. The TTC has brought this upon themselves, and it will continue until the problem is fixed.
Why don't we ALL grow up and act like civilized human beings who give a shit about each other?
Just do the job that you chose!!!
Some of these people make over a 100k, much more than my McDonalds job
We pay through increased fares for all acts of vandalism, so take a stand and record any idiots scratching their name into bus windows or glass shelters, or scrawling graffiti on bus seats and upload them where everyone can see.
And as not all abuse towards TTC staff is warranted. Next time you see some idiot going tearing strips off an innocent driver, have the balls to publicly call them on it. The more TTC sick leave time drops, the less of a case they can make to raise the fares in the future.
This facebook group is simply impolitic.
The issue is that the 'isolated cases' are not so isolated anymore
as for any fucker that assaults a TTC employee -- yes, they ought to be arrested and chucked in jail. that's never acceptable. but it is unrelated to a sizeable chunk of operators not performing to the basic standards of every other organization of comparable size globally.
I don't have a hate-on for the TTC but it does seem that a lot of the time they let things get so bad that its basically irrepairable. ie. cleaniness of stations, the new entrances at Broadview station, the constant mounting of dirt at Castle Frank station.
I have had many more stupid things happen on TTC than good things by the TTC.
The only real good thing I can remember is while as a teenager living in North East Scarborough is once a TTC driver gave me a drive on a out of service bus due to it being a freezing night and the next bus was running WAY behind schedule.
Other than that in my 20 years plus of taking the TTC there is a pattern of constant service BS, most recently the fact that a streetcar was 30 feet from the entrance of Broadview station and the streetcar operator wouldn't open the door for 15 MINUTES because the car in front was broken and she couldn't move the streetcar we were on into the station. WTF?? Open the doors and we will carefully exit. Eventually this is what I did but a bunch of people stayed there.
Actually, a few years ago I fainted and fell over from a standing position on the 196 bus; when I came to, nobody asked if I was OK or offered their seat -- they were all just looking at me with dull cow eyes. I could think up more animal comparisons for how people act on the TTC when there's bad weather, but will restrain myself.
They clearly understood their roles and responsibilities when accepting the job.
Now it is time to deliver and not dwell on the fact that customers litter.
Customers pay for the fact that they litter.
So maybe with the TTC we get the service and system we deserve?
You are not entitled to a seat if you are not at least willing to ask for it. You shouldn't speak poorly of people who have done nothing to deserve it.
I manage a large bookstore in Downtown Toronto. And yes, we have some customers who are rude, who litter, who vandalize and who put their feet, bags, coats, etc. on seats. When I see this, it is my JOB to approach the customer and in a friendly manner, explain to them that we need as many open seats as possible for other customers to have the opportunity to sit down, or to please pick up after themselves. I remember that though they are being rude, they are still my customer and they deserve to be spoken to as such.
TTC operators, on the other hand will routinely turn a blind eye to people using subway or bus seats as recliners or people littering. Rather than apporaching these "riders" (I hate that term, as it allows them to not think of us a customers) and politely asking them to keep seats available to other riders or throw away their garbage, TTC operators are now taking pictures and posting them on Facebook?
Think about it. When is the last time your bus or streetcar got diverted and you were told to exit - was there any sincere form of apology offered? Were you even given an explanation? Did they give you your money back or "comp" your ride to make up for the inconvenience?
It's not so much what the employees are doing (or NOT doing), but they way they TREAT us. Think about how much you pay for your Metropass. Now think about how much you pay for your cell phone plan. Could you imagine calling Telus or Rogers to ask a question getting treated the way you do by TTC employees? You would NOT put up with it.
The TTC Union has single-handedly soiled my view of unions in general. Time to privatize the TTC.
Personally, I don't like the TTC as it's expensive, inefficient and doesn't provide any service at all.
Pathetic.
Kinnear is the Sarah Palin of spokespeople. He makes his union seem completely out of touch. Remember when he blamed the photographers for not checking the health condition of the sleeping ticket taker?
If we are to judge this union by the spokesperson they select, then this union still does not take the issues seriously, refuses to take any real responsibility for what is clear to everyone else, and the only solution they can come up with is to get together for a chat on their own terms.
I'm sick of being held hostage in this city by public service unions. And if this union continues to plug it's ears and make stupid comments, we're just going to take more photos and videos, we're going to complain louder and we're going to make their commute just as unpleasant as they've been making ours.
It's a numbers game and they can't compete. If we all keep this up, they will eventually either get serious about fixing this, or resign as a group. Either way, we win.
I *do* ask for a seat when I don't have my cane with me, and I have been turned down or ignored every time on the subway, but not often on a bus or streetcar.
It just seems like giving up your seat to someone who obviously needs it is just the decent thing to do. But that requires that everyone be decent AND be paying attention. I believe that most Torontonians are decent, but I've noticed that most don't pay any attention to their surroundings.
It doesn't affect me as much anymore, since I moved and now live near Kipling station, so I always get a seat going to work, and I shifted my work hours an hour earlier so that I'm getting home just as rush hour is starting. Now all I need to worry about is being plowed down at St. George station by someone running to catch a train that isn't leaving!
You sound like you were quick on your feet (hats off to you btw), but to me it seems like there were enough cooks in that kitchen.
If I was in that situation I wouldn't think the elderly woman needed another samaritan.
Since then I have joined Tapcon's logic, wherein one is expected to ask for the seat if the need it. I will gladly and courteously give it up to anyone who asks.
Greg Kinneer must go through a bottle of gel a day. The guy looks like a clown.