Over 2,000 GO Transit workers to walk off job, bus service disrupted
Posted November 6, 2022 1:25 pm.
Last Updated November 7, 2022 6:18 pm.
Members of the union representing 2,200 GO Transit employees walked off the job Monday after contract talks broke down over the weekend.
Workers, including GO bus drivers, station attendants and other employees, walked picket lines outside Toronto’s Union Station, a major transit hub, as commuters looked to reroute via GO trains, which were still running.
The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1587 issued a statement Sunday saying it was unable to secure a new contract with Metrolinx.
Metrolinx spokesperson, Anne Marie Aikins, said there would be no bus service starting Monday.
Trains continue to operate as scheduled. Buses that began their trip before midnight on Nov. 6 completed their trip; however, any buses scheduled to start after midnight on Nov. 7 will not run.
“Metrolinx is disappointed to advise our customers that GO Bus service will not operate, effective Monday, Nov. 7, at 12:01 a.m. [On] Sunday afternoon, the ATU Local 1587 walked away from negotiations and declined our request to continue discussions [Monday],” Aikins noted in a statement on behalf of Metrolinx.
“We have contingency plans in place to limit the impact of this labour disruption on our customers. While GO bus service will stop, GO trains and UP Express will continue to operate as normal, and our stations will remain open.”
Local 1587 President Rob Cormier says Metrolinx has refused to address safety concerns by ensuring that “experienced and highly trained workers remain on the job and continue to refuse to budge on language that would protect GO Transit jobs from being contracted out.”
“Negotiations have failed because Metrolinx failed to come to the table with a reasonable offer to address any of our key issues,” Cormier said.
“We have been bargaining in good faith for more than seven months to avoid a transit stoppage, but I cannot say the same of Metrolinx’s negotiators.”
Both sides far apart from new deal, union spokesperson says
The Union says Monday’s job action comes after members voted 81 per cent against a previous contract offer.
Talks aimed at averting a midnight strike by GO Transit workers continued this weekend.
More than 2,000 station attendants, bus drivers, and maintenance workers with the provincial transit agency are set to walk off the job after rejecting the latest contract offer on Friday from Metrolinx.
Lakeshore West GO Train. Photo: GO Transit.
Workers initially planned to walk off the job on Halloween but pushed back that deadline to vote on the most recent offer.
A union spokesperson told CityNews on Sunday afternoon that both sides remained far apart at the bargaining table and that the Union was “not optimistic” a deal would be reached by midnight.
The Union has maintained that contracting out provisions, which they say are standard in other transit agencies in Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa, is at the heart of the dispute.
Commuters who take the TTC or other transit in Mississauga and Hamilton could also face delays as the Union notes that other members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) will not cross picket lines.
The GO Transit workers’ strike came three days after 55,000 CUPE education workers had left the job.
“This union-busting crown corporation has been given its privatization mandate by the same government revoking Charter Rights for CUPE workers,” said ATU International President John Costa.
“Our Union and members at Local 1587 are fed up with the disrespect Metrolinx has shown them. We had hoped it wouldn’t come down to this for our riders, but our Union has been down this road with strikes. We will stand on the picket lines with our brothers and sisters until we win.”
