Union Approves Deal To End Durham Transit Strike
Posted October 31, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The 300 employees who paralyzed public transit in Oshawa, Whitby, Pickering and Clarington on October 5th, gathered at CAW headquarters Tuesday and voted 94 percent in favour of a new contract.
Approval from Regional Council and the Transit Commission soon followed, and the outcome means the buses will start rolling again by Friday, with full service expected on the weekend.
The solution came after both sides refused to talk for weeks, leaving some 30,000 people looking for alternate ways to get to school and work.
The hard fought for three year deal will give employees a three percent wage hike and protect them from the thorny issue of contracting out. There are also improvements to pensions, although only some workers will see their benefits increase.
Durham had balked at the CAW’s original demands, insisting taxpayers weren’t prepared to dole out $11 million to resolve the issue.
Why the long delay between settlement and restarting the service? Mechanics must first go over every idled vehicle in the fleet to ensure they’re safe after such a long layoff.
