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<title>blogTO Recent Comments: Toronto Garbage Strike: Smells like Summer</title>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/feed/recentcomments/?13620</link>
<description>Comments recently made in this post on blogTO</description>
<copyright>Copyright 2009</copyright>
<lastBuildDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:17:42 PST</lastBuildDate>
<item>
<title>jew boy</title>
<description><![CDATA[
I believethat u guys should have just recycled and stop being whiny babies]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c680782</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c680782</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:54:48 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>dawn</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Ok now where is my refund for services NOT rendered?]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c649232</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c649232</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:06:54 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Al</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Place your garbage where the picket lines are..... how long will it last????]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c644315</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c644315</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:12:09 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>observer</title>
<description><![CDATA[
try another approach: http://www.startech.net/plasma.html 
Give these guys a call, and get them in the discussion.  Garbage would probably be picked up within 3 days, if this solution was even a fizzle of a thought.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643977</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643977</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:55:32 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>smartidea</title>
<description><![CDATA[
THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE: PRIVITIZATION!!!!!! C'MON MAYOR DO NOTHING MILLER, AT LEAST DO THIS...!!!]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643969</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643969</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2009 23:38:08 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Patrick</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Why don't we get rid of the whole lot of lazy workers and hire people who need and want the job? Why waste our time with these princesses??]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643936</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643936</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:15:34 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>robert</title>
<description><![CDATA[
STFU. Very intelligent comment. You can increase your vocabulary by starting with Dr Seuss books. You have my sympathy.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643888</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643888</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2009 18:04:35 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Vancouverite in TO</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Robert - now there's a threat that we can take seriously. If you cannot contribute meaningfully to a debate than STFU.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643881</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643881</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:39:36 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Robert</title>
<description><![CDATA[
A MESSAGE TO TORONTO CITY HALL. I am from Edmonton (THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE) and am comming to TORONTO next Thursday and I expect you to have the place cleaned up by then. There is no excuse for the garbage ridden rat infested city streets. GET IT CLEANED UP BEFORE I ARRIVE. You have six (6) days left.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643726</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643726</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:49:37 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>ng</title>
<description><![CDATA[
immigrants built this country...we need more and more too keep this country functioning. bring in thousands of people from emerging nations to fulfill this important city service and they'd happily do it for half the cost. ]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643384</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643384</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:40:55 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>ng</title>
<description><![CDATA[
We consume and waste too much. Cut back on garbage and we won't need to pay so much to these already highly paid workers.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643383</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643383</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:38:04 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Bodyshot</title>
<description><![CDATA[
My head is spinning and I am ready to spew chunks everywhere.  The grap that comes out of Ferguson's mouth is absurd.  This ultimatium he announced is laughable.  This sense of entitlement employees have to demand this and demand that is unforgivable.  Watching video highlights of this or ANY union strike is "they better give us what we want or else..." sounds like a 2yr old crying for ice cream.

Now - I'm not a legal-begal so I would like some intelligent feedback; the contract is completed.  They are striking for a new contract, correct?  If I do work on contract and the contract expires I can't strike and picket and insult my employeer and expect to get a new contract.  By walking away from the talks - doesn't that open the door for the city to tender service to alternative service providers?

Mayor Miller - stay the course.  Don't give-in to CUPE demands.  Keep the public up to date and don't allow CUPE spinmasters to downplay the negotiations.  

For all you CUPE supporters who are crying foul - don't cry for the cameras when your property taxes go up to pay for these salary increases.



]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643345</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643345</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:57:55 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>New Dump Site at Amesbury - July 25 (Sat), 2009</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Simplest Terms - VERMIN SMORGASBORD & BIRTH EXPLOSION RESULTING!  

*** WE NEED 'Hazel McCallion' to put a stop to this 'BS' ***

How would 'Miller and the councillors' like to have the garbage dumped in their front / back yard?

I'm interested in participating in a class action lawsuit, any chance of this taking place???
]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643291</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c643291</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:35:43 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>cara</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Clean the fucking streets up already! Toronto looks disgusting.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642907</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642907</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:09:45 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Alogon</title>
<description><![CDATA[
While I agree with the sentiments expressed, I find it odd that a lawyer would make a statement like "unions that are legally empowered to deprive individuals of the right to work outside a union". This is not true. The courts have argued back and forth regarding the right to associate and it's corollary, the right NOT to associate. In fact the courts have even come up with what is known as the "Rand Formula". This formula provides an employee the ability to opt out of a union. Because the formula calculates a payment of mandatory union dues (can't escape those), it allows the worker to share in the collective benefits but not be a member of the union. 
So, the statement purported above to be made by this lawyer seems a little vague or maybe intentionally framed in a disingenuous way.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642795</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642795</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:01:26 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Another Alness Observer</title>
<description><![CDATA[
I hope this group at the Finch and Alness site are not representative of this unions overall membership but sadly I think they are. The parking lot owned by the City of Toronto has been turned into a eyesore. The recent construction of a "lean to" in this parking lot is a good example of not only the lack of skill they have in general and their continued disregard for property that is owned by others. Yesterday when passing by I noted the fire barrel these idiots have been using to entertain themselves  was burning unattended within a few feet of their woodpile.
Picketing is a word that has been seriously misused by this union. What I see is a circle of lawn chairs where these fat assed morons sit around for their mandatory 5 hours displaying childish behavior and as mentioned by someone else publicly urinating. This must be CUPEs style of picketing.
Are these the kind of people we want driving and maintaining city property? I would not be surprised if most of these union members do not even live in Toronto so what interest do they really have in Toronto other than sucking out their insanely high pay. This whole refuse collection process needs to be transferred to private businesses by wards which will at the very least get rid of this hostage taking union.
Below is an interesting comment circulating currently.

 GWYN MORGAN

Last updated on Monday, Jul. 20, 2009 08:02AM EDT


Gwyn Morgan is the retired founding CEO of EnCana Corp.

Competition is key to the vastly superior living standards of capitalist nations. It stimulates cost efficiency and innovation, while providing the public with the ability to "shop around" for the best combination of price and service. Private sector monopolies are either illegal, or tightly regulated.

But when it comes to taxpayer-financed services such as health care, education, water supply, public transit and garbage pickup, various levels of government are the dominant monopoly provider. Consequently, cost efficiency and innovation are light years behind where they would be in a free-enterprise, competitive environment. While public sector monopolies are seldom regulated, we can generally trust public officials to avoid deliberate abuse of government monopoly power. But what if the power to abuse is in the hands of another entity?

Torontonians are being forced to endure a stinky summer, held hostage by monopolistic public sector unions. In last winter's bitter cold, Ottawa residents were held hostage by a transit strike timed to coincide with the World Junior Hockey Championships. Big international events are manna from heaven for union organizers. City councillors in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., paid dearly for peace at the 2010 Winter Olympics, granting municipal workers a 12-per-cent wage hike over three years, igniting a growing backlash over the tax hangover residents will suffer for years after the 17-day Olympic party is over.

Even before this difficult recession, unionized public employee compensation was way beyond competitive "real world" levels. Now, when the average Canadian feels fortunate just to have a job, and many are losing them, public sector unions feel entitled to permanent employment and defend their excessive wages and astoundingly generous benefits as a sacred right.

Private sector union membership has steadily fallen, mainly because of the decline or failure of the businesses that employ them. In a competitive, globalized world, there is little room for the rigid work rules, prohibition from rewarding superior employee performance, strikebound production losses, and adversarial atmosphere that renders unionized companies uncompetitive. Witness the performance differences between Air Canada and WestJet, or General Motors and Toyota.

Now the only safe harbours for big labour are public sector monopolies, where competitive alternatives are few or non-existent. Another advantage for union leaders is that those on the other side of the bargaining table don't have to worry that too rich a settlement might drive them out of business. Union leaders are acutely aware that their survival depends on a continuation of their monopoly powers and, all too often, strike-bound public officials support this quest by acceding to "no contracting out" clauses.

This mission to maintain Big Labour's power manifests itself in other harmful ways. For example, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) recently celebrated a successful grievance against PeerScholar, a new online application at University of Toronto wherein students can file papers for grading by fellow students who have completed the same assignment. CUPE spokesman Michael Swayze justified blocking this innovative educational advancement on the basis that "if students are doing marking, then they're in our bargaining unit and must be paid."

This illustrates another glaring flaw in our labour laws: the requirement that anyone doing work which could be done by union members must join the union, even if they don't want to. So we have two toxic levels of public sector monopoly power: government-imposed restrictions against private service providers, and unions that are legally empowered to deprive individuals of the right to work outside a union.

When it comes to the delivery of public services, Canadians are amazingly tolerant of behaviour and service levels they would never put up with from any private business. But the time is nearing when, abused by the workers they are being taxed to pay, Canadians will cry "enough."

Bureaucratic, uncaring and unaccountable "service" delivery experiences bring that breaking point nearer. Images of beleaguered Torontonians struggling to cross picket lines so they can dispose of their smelly garbage will only accelerate the outrage. The contrasting images of residents of nearby Etobicoke serenely putting out their garbage for pickup by privately contracted workers, and the happy Toronto parents who chose "for-profit" daycare while 57 municipal centres are temporarily closed, clearly illustrate that we just don't have to put up with it any more.

The fact that we've seen it all so many times before has spawned a sort of numbed resignation. But what we haven't seen before is the confluence of a painful recession and the spectre of public sector unions using their powers to abuse the very people who pay their wages. Once public outrage catches fire, these unions will have depleted their bank account of goodwill, and will never again be able convince people they serve any positive purpose. Then there is the stark reality that their high wage levels and outrageous benefits programs are simply unaffordable as federal, provincial and municipal governments sink deeper into the red.

Now is the time to end public sector unions' monopoly power by moving ahead with private sector contracting of government services, under terms that provide real-world compensation and accountability.

Steve Suarez
Partner
416.862.5905  DIRECT
416.862.6666  FACSIMILE
ssuarez@osler.com
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Box 50, 1 First Canadian Place
Toronto, Ontario, Canada  M5X 1B8
  ]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642732</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642732</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:06:53 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Danny</title>
<description><![CDATA[
If you`re not happy with your job, just Quit! Jeez ... those people are ruining our summer. Fire them all!!! Pretty sure that there are hundreds of people who wants those jobs. Union is useless, Yes they really are. :( ]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642330</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642330</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:31:36 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>Corina</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Actually, I meant did anyone leaving a comment here do anything in protest - hard to miss all the public protests happening here n there.]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642320</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642320</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:57:46 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>MattasHell</title>
<description><![CDATA[
Oops. I start a perfectly good rant by typo-ing the second word.
I meant "feel" of course]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642317</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642317</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:46:32 PDT</pubDate>
</item>
<item>
<title>MattasHell</title>
<description><![CDATA[
I fell unions are an anachronism. But Mayor Miller for all his recent "tough" talk about the garbage strike is an unrepentant fan of them. It's just politically prudent for him to play tough now and presume the electorate have smaller IQ's and shorter memories than he does, ( He really seems to think so.)  If CUPE really wanted to make him look like a fool without refuge they would have suspended the strike for one week as a goodwill gesture, cleaned up the city and had the citizenry on it's side.
Unfortunately it's to late now and both need to go.
Do away with as many union positions within municipal government as possible, to do so requires a campaign based on ABM...Anyone but Miller.
The system has gone off the rails. The public service used to mean just that. Now the public serves the "servants".
  ]]>
</description>
<link>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642314</link>
<guid>http://www.blogto.com/city/2009/06/toronto_garbage_strike_smells_like_summer/#c642314</guid>
<category>Toronto, City</category>
<pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2009 23:36:13 PDT</pubDate>
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