Strike Goes On, But So Do the Farmers' Markets
As we all know, Toronto civic workers are on strike and the garbage is piling up, but those hardest hit may have been the local farmers who depend upon the city's farmers' markets to sell their fresh, local fruit and vegetables. As of Thursday (July 2nd), all farmers' markets at Toronto Civic Centres will be open for business, thanks to an agreement between city councillors, city staff and CUPE locals 416 and 79.
Farming is hard enough without labour disputes and those of committed to eating local count on our local markets, especially now that strawberries are coming in fresh daily and it won't be long before we see berries, garlic and the ultimate: tomatoes. With an end to the strike not in sight everybody involved would lose out without these markets, especially in the locations outside the downtown core where farmers' markets are a bit fewer and further between.
A special market for affected vendors will take place today, July 2nd, from 8am -2pm at Yonge-Dundas Square. Look for some fantastic strawberries along with some fantastic seasonal greens. The affected market schedule is below.
Thursday, July 2
Special market 8 am to 2 pm at Yonge-Dundas Square
Metro Hall: Thursdays, 8 am to 2 pm
North York Civic Centre: Thursdays 8 am to 2 pm
Saturday, July 4
Etobicoke Civic Centre: Saturdays 8 am to 2 pm
Tuesday, July 7
Scarborough Civic Centre: Tuesdays 8 am to 2:30 pm
East York Civic Centre: Tuesdays 8 am to 2 pm
Wednesday, July 8
Nathan Phillips Square: Wednesdays 8 am to 2:30 pm
The agreement allows the markets to continue but they will likely do so on a reduced scale as there will be no city support and the market organizers (vendors?) will be responsible for the cleanup. But that's a small price to pay to keep the good food coming.
The strike was definitely the hot topic at Monday's Sorauren Farmers' Market as vendors were happy to express their opinions about parks - common market locations - being used as dumping grounds and what market sales mean to their financial success. It's safe to say the affected farmers are breathing a big sigh of relief with this announcement.
Comments (10)
I like your Blog and read it daily for Toronto news.
I am surprised however that Blogto has failed to look at the Toronto Strike from a more objective viewpoint. In particular every single newspaper and tv news program is overlooking one major point of this whole strike: What is happening to all of the money that the city of Toronto would be spending on wages for the strikers? There are 24,000 people on strike and the city is not paying them a dime. I realize there are some other costs that the city may be stuck with due to the strike but the big picture is that taxpayers continue to pay money to the city while the city hordes it. To me this is a criminal act and taxpayers should be refunded.
I'm pretty sure workers are collecting a significant portion of their daily wages during the strike.
Jerrold: Care to back up your comment?
I know for a fact that they are not. The are living on Strike pay of $200 a week which is paid for by the union - Not the city of Toronto.
everytime i take the subway, it's late. i want a tax refund.
everytime i take the streetcar, it leaves before i get on. i want a tax refund.
everytime i want to borrow a book from the libary, it's out. i want a refund.
actually this strike is not that bad. maybe the city should lock out the TTC union until the city makes a profit. then we can have tax refunds for everyone.
in all honesty, the city will probably just give raises to all the elected representatives, like the provincial liberals did a few years ago.
Gerald you missed my point completely - I am paying for services that the city cannot provide and as a result these funds should be returned to taxpayers. Its like sitting down at a restuarant, paying the bill after you ordered and being hurried out before you get your food. You paid for a service/goods but you received nothing in return. This is called fraud. And this is what Miller is doing to city of Toronto Taxpayers
you may want to re-think that. Workers are not paid by the city, they are paid via the strike fund, which will be nowhere near their daily wages
I don't think you can reasonably expect a real-time refund. If the strike ultimately saves the city money, it will be reflected via a surplus (or smaller deficit) at the end of the year, which could be used for a whole range of things by the city, or perhaps somehow returned to citizens. But how do you propose getting that refund, anyway?
Ultimately I suspect the money will be spent in the cleanup, in paying whoever is running the dump sites, etc... The total savings is probably a paltry sum once you divide by 2.5 million...
first of all, i'd like to say thanks to the author. i just got back from metro hall where i got a basket of strawberries. they look great and miles apart from the lousy local strawberries available at the super market (but priced to match).
a refund would make sense. but nothing in the world makes sense. does the $50/year Toronto only vehicle licencing tax makes sense? does the cost of a ttc fare, whether u ride one stop or 20 stops makes sense?
at the end of the day, the way the city is operated, everyone deserves a tax refund. but if the city saves $ on unionized wages, there's tons of other costs that the city could legitimately find a good use for.
i personally would not mind if the strike lasts for a year or longer. everyone would lose, but it would put everyone's perspective in a more realistic sense. think of all the stranded motorists during a snow storm.
Ok, so striking workers are paid a stipend from their union dues.
But the City is likely spending quite a lot of money in desperation (making temporary dumps, hiring contracted companies to haul, clean, moving meetings out of city hall, etc.) So is there a savings here? I don't know. It's a good question.
The money the city saves on wages during the strike (and there will be savings) will be needed to fund the settlement (possibly negotiated but especially if arbitrated). Same and everyone else will see their money back in the form of a lower tax increase in the next operating budget given the massive shortfall that exists in the 2010 budget.
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