No strike! Tentative deal reached. GO to bed -> see this update <- sweet dreams
@CityNews CityNews.ca
A GO bus strike has been averted, as the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1587 and Metrolinx reached a tentative agreement late Sunday night.
It's 10 pm on Sunday night.
I haven't read or seen anything on the news about where strike talks stand.
I know York Region bus drivers are on strike. Who knows where 1,500 GO bus drivers, mechanics, maintenance workers, ticket takers and enforcement officers stand?
I do know that Metrolinx is expecting the strike, if there is one, to be peaceful and professional. Isn't that what all employers ask of their union employees? It's up to the people striking how they want to be heard and what tactics they employ. In my opinion, a disruption in train service would definitely get some attention.
As of now, GO train service is expected to be normal tomorrow. But be prepared to wake up to anything but. However, if this tweet is correct, those of you who depend on the GO bus, won't be on one:
@Nigel_MUFC Nigel
Apparently im about to walk off the job. Be a little hard when I'm on off days. #GOstrike
Those who rely on other transit systems (we already know York Region is idle) should anticipate that their local transit service won't cross picket lines and won't enter GO stations such as Brampton Transit.
According to the Toronto Star:
The GO workers’ transit union and Metrolinx, the provincial agency that operates GO Transit, was stalled in talks that lasted over night Saturday and all day Sunday, said Ray Doyle, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1587.I'm getting to the GO station early tomorrow. If it's chaotic, I'm turning around and will work from home.
“We’re running out of time,” Doyle said as he waited for Metrolinx’s final offer on Sunday evening.
Metrolinx expects that people who take the bus will have to find another ride on Monday, said spokeswoman Vasie Papadopoulos in an email.
Although GO Trains will still run as scheduled, there will be no additional train service to accommodate the bus passengers should a strike occur. About 37,000 passengers use GO Bus weekly.
Train station parking lots are expected to be crowded.
“We understand that a labour disruption will be disruptive to our passengers and the travelling public. We will work to try and minimize the inconvenience,” Papadopoulos said.
thanks cj for the hard work and for keeping us up to date. even if it was twitter, doesn't everyone turn to twitter now for info?
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel
ReplyDeleteI didn't really do much. I just hopped on Twitter and crawled the web.
Who you should really thank are the GO union employees who went out of their way to try to keep the public informed while they waited on the news.
No one wants to strike and I really hope both sides settle on a contract that satisfies everyone.
I'll admit I was refreshing your site for most of the evening knowing you would have something.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't matter how you got the information, it's the fact that people trust you and we know you'll try your best to find out what was going on.
It is a little late now, but I purposely watched CTV last night at 6pm and they had a mini-update with promises of more information at 11.30pm.
ReplyDeleteThat was way after my bedtime so I got up early to get to the station in case there were any problems.