Council narrowly votes against TTC as essential service

By a razor thin margin, Toronto council voted this afternoon 23-22 against asking the province to declare the TTC an essential service.

After an all-day debate, a slim majority of councillors allied themselves with Mayor David Miller to protect the right of unionized public transit workers to strike.

Since last April's TTC work stoppage, which ended when the province legislated employees back to work, councillors Cliff Jenkins (Don Vally West) and Cesar Palacio (Davenport), later joined by transit commissioner and councillor Michael Thompson (Scarborough Centre) championed an effort to have public transit designated essential.

Tapping in to public outrage over the sudden and unannounced strike, they formed a citizens advisory committee, polled passengers in subway stations in recent days and put on the full-court press to take the right to strike away from TTC employees.

They almost succeeded today despite the executive committee ruling against them, dealing a near embarrassment to the mayor who defended the principal of collective bargaining.