Traveling through Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the last week I noticed that public tennis courts had been turned into garbage dumps, and that the normally well maintained streets of Toronto had gobs of garbage strewn about the public sidewalk trash receptacles. 

 

After discussion amongst a few Torontonians, I heard that because of a month long strike by two municipal worker's unions, trash had to be taken by private car to a few public locations where it would be accepted.

 

The photo above is of the transfer station just off Lakeside. I parked and watched for a few minutes.

 

Private vehicles pulled up outside of the open gate.  One or two “worker” people would then pick a trash bag (usually black plastic) out of the private vehicle, turn 180 degrees and walk two steps to one of the individuals in the “white hats” who were just at the line of the fence/gate.  

 

The white hat individual would then turn 180 degrees and toss the plastic garbage sack into the back of the garbage packer truck.

 

Seemed pretty well organized. 

 

Everyone had their specific job, a very specific task.  

 

You had the private car driver who couldn’t take the trash and toss it into the packer truck.

You had the “worker” lift trash out of a car and take a 180 turn and transfer the trash to the next guy,

You had the White Hat guy receive, rotate 180, and toss into packer.

 

Which, for me, explains quite precisely a union fault.

Intentional lack of job efficiency.

 

Although I have reported positively about civic services in Toronto in the past, on this occasion if someone in charge was really interested in being responsible, they  would have had one or two truck drivers/operators on site to operate the hydraulic packer and move the filled trucks.   The private taxpayers would have been directed to toss their trash directly into the back hopper of the packer.  

 

There would have been about 10 fewer paychecks from this operation, and instead of dealing with garbage, society could focus on other civic improvements with the taxpayer’s money.