[URBAN NOTE] No strike!

[rfmcdonald]

From the Canadian Press:

Worries of gridlock traffic, expensive work commutes and an outbreak of employees calling in sick Monday were averted after a last-minute deal killed the threat of a transit strike in Canada's biggest city.

The tentative agreement was announced almost two hours after Sunday's 4 p.m. deadline and came after the union representing Toronto Transit Commission workers warned that a strike seemed very likely.

As many as 1.5 million people ride Toronto's streetcars, subways and buses on a typical weekday and those who couldn't arrange a ride, or couldn't walk or cycle to work, had to worry about the costs of cab fare through heavily-congested streets.

Kasim Baskar, who takes two buses and a subway to get to work every day, said the announcement was a blessing for workers and may have even saved his job.

"I work in a restaurant Monday to Friday and if there is no (transit), I would face so many problems," he said while waiting for a streetcar on a downtown street.

"I would be fired from the restaurant, too."

Another streetcar rider, Robyn Bolivar, said she was "thrilled" there would be no strike since she doesn't have a car and would need to walk for about 40 minutes to work.

But other workers at the west-end clinic she manages would have had bigger problems getting to work, and Bolivar said she was dreading Monday morning and how she would deal with staff not showing up.

"My co-workers were hoping I would have a contingency plan for them - and I didn't," Bolivar said.

"So if people weren't able to walk or bike to work I'm not sure how we would have done that. Most people I work with don't have cars."

Stories like the above explain why only a small part of me is sad that I no longer have an excuse to walk the heathful hour it would take me to get to work.