Planes, Trains and Strikes, oh my.

(WARNING: This post is anti-union. If this stance offends you, please skip this post)

Item number one on the hit list is the sudden collapse of Jetsgo. This discount airline rose from the ashes of the former Canada3000. Not only did Jetsgo pull the plug, but managed to strand passengers right at peak time in March break. She who makes my coffee and I flew Jetsgo on our Summer trip and on our Christmas trip. She has flown them several times previous. the only saving grace is that we *were* planning to be in the sunny south this week for our original wedding date. Thank god for changed plans and blabby in-laws.

Item two is the imminent strike by our local transit authority. Threats of spring job action by the transit unionistas are as familiar as teachers' strikes and playoff collapses by the Maple Leafs. Adding some sand to the Vaseline is the fact that we just went through a transit fare hike. While I know that the City really isn't the most biz-efficient bunch around, surely the union people recognize the self-defeating cycle they're in: They keep asking for more money, and the city has less to give them. The city has less to give them because ridership (and subsequent revenue) falls every time they do a fare hike to cover off the money that they had to give the unionistas to silence their whining and endless choruses of "Solidarity Forever" when the lazy toads go on strike! Then we get into the whole area of service cuts and I simply don't have the energy to go there. I know they're not all lazy and I know they're not all about the money, but I'm really weary of being held hostage every time a contract comes up for renewal. Every time it happens, more people go into their cars and out of buses, subways and streetcars.

I've lived through 3 transit strikes since I moved here. Last time it wasn't so bad, because the government stepped in and legislated them back to work after 2 days. I'm fortunate this time that I can walk to work from where I get off my commuter train, but it won't be pretty at all and its a bit of a hike.

So, if you happen to be a member of the local Amalgamated Transit Union and you're reading this, here's a message: we're tired of being your hostages. When you strike, the only people you help are yourselves and you drive support away from the audience you need the most: the riders. Pull your heads out of the sand and take a good look at the costs of what you do. Stay on the job and help keep ridership up. The gas tax revenue is coming if you can exercise a rarely-demonstrated trait: PATIENCE.