If Ottawa wants better transit, let’s bargain for it
Transit workers’ union could defend interests of riders too, Declan Ingham says.
Ottawa is on the cusp of urban maturity. With the eventual opening of the LRT, it will have a fully fledged public transit system, but the recent political gridlock on questions of fare affordability should be a reminder that we are not a transit city yet. The recent move by Ottawa council to continue freezing fares is a win for transit riders but the defeat of a motion to reduce fares by a vote of 18 to 6 shows that this is not the end of the debate but just the beginning.
Fare affordability is an issue in Ottawa. Depending on measurement, it is the second or third most expensive major Canadian city for a single transit fare ($3.45 in 2018) and second or third most expensive for a monthly transit pass ($116.50 in 2018). “As affordable as Toronto” is not the transit slogan we want.
The even bigger problem is the stagnant ridership our transit is seeing (though this trend is being seen across all major cities).
Even with the city declaring a climate change emergency and aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fewer people in total are taking transit in Ottawa than did eight years ago.
Debates over public transit are common at any city council but with Ottawa’s post-amalgamation geography merging rural, suburban and urban communities, councillors will be hard pressed to find a consensus. So if Ottawa council cannot get us the transit system this city desperately deserves maybe it is time to start looking for someone who can.
One such group might be the bus drivers and transit operators themselves. The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 279 represents transit workers across the city and their collective agreement (the employment contract between the city and the unionized workers) will be coming up for negotiations beginning in March 2020.
Would it be appropriate to bring up funding, investment and the affordability of the transit system in negotiations? Absolutely. In fact, the electrical workers who work at the Toronto Transit Commission, unionized as CUPE local 2, just released a news release calling for free public transit in Toronto.
Normally, unions are expected to bargain on behalf of their members every few years to ensure their workplaces are safe and fairly run, with workers seeing improvement in wages, benefits and working conditions. Between negotiations, unions protect members from arbitrary firing and management abuse while representing their interests at the workplace, including in managing formal complaints (grievances).
However, this limited conception of the role of unions can be challenged by ideas of “social unionism” which calls on unions not just to represent and bargain for their members’ economic status but also for the well-being of their communities and for solutions to social problems. ATU 279 will always represent transit workers at the bargaining table but it could represent transit riders too, and they would be more powerful for it. At the very least, strategic partnerships could be formed with advocacy groups such as OCTranspo Transit Riders Union, Free Transit Ottawa and the Healthy Transportation Coalition.
The difficulty for any cause in politics is bringing people together around a common interest. A natural wedge could be driven between those wanting cheaper fares at the expense of better conditions for workers. Yet therein lies the greatest asset in bargaining from a social unionism perspective: By representing interests outside the workplace, unions can build solidarity beyond their membership. The labour principle of solidarity is rooted in a simple truth: Workers are always more powerful when they stand together. The power of a union is in numbers, unity and its potential to mobilize and disrupt.
For public-sector unions, social unionism often means representing the recipients of the services they provide. For ATU 279, this could mean looking out for the entire transit system — its excellence, its accessibility, and its affordability — and that means working with transit riders. This would allow them to build bigger coalitions, leverage more supporters, and bring more political power to the bargaining table against decision-makers who, whether they’re public politicians or private-sector bosses, are always asking us to expect less: worse transit, lower wages, higher prices.
If the policies we get are a question of priorities, let’s begin asking our city government where their priorities are — at the ballot box and the bargaining table.
Declan Ingham is currently a Master of Public Policy candidate at the University of Toronto and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Ottawa. His research focuses on building a workers-first economy and a welfare state that leaves no one behind. Reach him at: declan.taylor.ingham@gmail.com or @Sir_D_Ingham