Negotiations resume between GO Transit & union
Posted September 15, 2011 5:44 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Commuters can breathe a sigh of relief, for now. Contract negotiations have started up again between GO Transit and the union representing its bus drivers.
More than 1,500 GO workers were set to walk off the job on Monday. Earlier this week, the union announced it was delaying its strike deadline. It hasn’t set a new date for potential job action.
GO trains wouldn’t be affected if a strike happened.
A two-year wage freeze and working conditions are the main sticking points in contract talks, according to the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1587, which represents GO bus drivers, coach technicians and station attendants.
The deadline delay came after Metrolinx, the provincial agency that runs GO Transit, went to the Ontario Labour Board (OLB).
The agency wouldn’t say why it went to the board and said it doesn’t discuss labour negotiations publicly.
The local union president, Ray Doyle, said Metrolinx requested the OLB overturn a letter the two sides signed in March.
Doyle wouldn’t outline the details of that letter. The union plans to apply for an expedited hearing on the matter.
ATU Local 1587 also represents workers who operate and maintain York Region Transit buses for Miller Transit and First Student Canada and is involved in contract negotiations for those employees, separate from the GO talks.
With files from The Canadian Press
