It seems incredible that it has taken more than three weeks for the union executive to take the city’s offer to a vote, but there you go.  It only took direct action from the federal government to happen, but I will take it.  Despite the union leaders pleading with their members to reject the offer, I can’t help but think if I was in their shoes I would accept anything to get back to work.  It seems that they have finally started receiving strike pay, and it sure isn’t much ($50/week apparently).  In their shoes, this offer surely has to be looking better and better, it would to me anyway.

I heard Larry O’Brien on the radio this morning, Live 88.5, and his take on the city’s argument about the scheduling issue was brilliant.  He basically boiled it all down to a public safety issue: if the city controls the schedules, then there’s no way a senior driver could choose to be “driving a 10 ton bus for 22 hours straight on city streets”.  That may not be an exact quote, I was driving to work at the time, cue the irony.  This clear and direct media message is in stark contrast to Andre Cornellier’s catastrophic series of media appearances at the beginning of the strike.  It seems he has been banned from making any public appearances since then, which was really the only wise thing the union has done to date.

So, Thursday should be interesting, that’s the day of the vote on the city’s offer.  Have the union members had enough of Andre’s shtick?  Time will tell.