Agreement needed with Union Station workers set to strike

The operator responsible for the movement of passenger and freight trains at Toronto’s Union Station says it hopes to reach an agreement with nearly 100 workers who are planning to go on strike just after midnight.

Toronto Terminals Railway, or TTR, says it received a 72-hour notice from the union representing the workers that they will go on strike at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday.

The 95 workers, who are mainly responsible for signals and communication maintenance as well as train control at the Union Station rail corridor, are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

They have been without a new contract since December 2019. Union Station is regarded as Canada’s most active passenger transportation hub, with approximately 200,000 GO Train commuters passing through every day.

TTR says it began negotiations with IBEW at the beginning of 2020, but due to the pandemic, negotiations were delayed and later resumed in the summer of 2021.

It says a tentative agreement was reached in September 2021, but it was not ratified by the union members.

The employer says increased wage demands from the union are at the heart of the matter.

TTR says it’s meeting with the union today to resolve this dispute and come to an agreement “in order to avoid a labour disruption.”

A spokeswoman for Metrolinx says the government agency has developed a contingency plan with TTR management that will ensure “continued and safe operation” of GO Transit and Union Pearson Express trains at Union Station if there is a labour disruption.