CITY OFFERS TO END LOCKOUT

To try and bring the lockout to an end, the City has taken the bold step of offering a plan to the Transit union.  We remain far apart in our contract talks with the Transit union; ATU’s last proposal is for a 19% wage increase over four years. 

“Even with an experienced mediator like Vince Ready taking part, the parties are still nowhere near a proposal that the City would consider fair to our other unions, citizens and taxpayers,” says Jeff Jorgenson, General Manager of Transportation & Utilities.

So, in an effort to reduce the impact of the current labour dispute, the City offered the transit union three requirements to lift the lockout:

1. The City and the Amalgamated Transit Union, 615 both agree to no further lock out or strike action until there is a contract.
   
2. The Transit union must agree with the pension changes that they already agreed to in December 2013 and recently enacted by City Council.
   
3. It must withdraw the Labour Relations Board application which challenges the legality of the lockout. 

So far there’s no word on whether ATU will accept the City’s proposal.