Was about to write a long one about how the city should not let scheduling slip into a separate negotiation, or let the union back to work without sorting this out, but it seems that Randall Denley did it for me.

Exactly what he said.  The bus strike is a humungous pain in the ass, sure, but don’t flinch now for god’s sake.  If you don’t fix this now you will be doomed to be here again very soon.  One bus strike will be remembered as a pain in the butt in a year’s time, but a series of bus strikes as you try to fix this scheduling problem over and over will be called terrible labour management on the city’s part.  Also, if the union wins on the scheduling issue, the inevitable tax increase will be ever more bitter to swallow for regular folks in the city.  $30 million in savings is worth a few more weeks, and I think we all agree that nigh on two months worth of strike pay will no doubt make anyone more agreeable, even “The Inconveniencer” will have a hard time ignoring his members increasing cries to agree to any deal that lets them get back to work.

Then we will see how quickly the public gets back on the bus.