The Amalgamated Transit Union has waited just long enough for the public memory of the astonishing strike of April, 2008 to fade a little. But maybe not long enough. The Wynne government is insisting it will fight any attempt by the ATU to remove essential service status from the union. Who can forget that Friday night when the union gave just 90 minutes notice as the clock ticked toward midnight. It blind-sided thousands of people who found they had no way home. Unsuspecting TTC customers wandered out of theatres and clubs to see picket signs. This little surprise was necessary, said then union president Bob Kinnear, so that an “angry and irrational” public would not take out some sort of revenge on the union. ATU local 113 is going to try to convince a court again that it should be allowed to strike.
