CITY INVITES TRANSIT UNION BACK TO THE TABLE: READY TO NEGOTIATE

After hearing the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board would not order an end to the Transit lockout at this time, the City has invited the Transit Union to resume bargaining talks. Director of Human Resources Marno McInnes has been in contact with the Transit union executive.

“We have not changed our commitment to resolving this labour dispute and returning bus service to our customers”, says Marno McInnes, Director of Human Resources.

“We’ve invited the Transit Union to resume the bargaining process. We’re ready on a moment's notice to sit down and bargain."

We are eager to get service running again and back to the business of Transit. But a 22% pay increase is not a reasonable position; we simply cannot defend this to taxpayers. We want to find a solution.

The City has offered the same four year wage increase of 10% to the Transit Union as it has offered to all other unions and associations that participate in the City’s General Pension Plan.

In the hearing, the City Solicitor said that Saskatoon City Council enacted changes to the Pension Plan on Monday, September 22 at approximately 1:30 p.m.

The Labour Relations Board ruled that the City of Saskatoon is to make no further changes to the Pension Plan as of 2:30 p.m. today. The City will comply with the Labour Relations Board order.

 “We are ready to talk and continue to make ourselves available,” McInnes says.

“I hope the Transit Union can find a way back to the negotiating table so that our transit operations can return to normal,” McInnes says. “We want to get buses back on the street and we want all of our City employees working to provide our citizens with the services they need.”

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