SASKATOON – There appears to be no end to the Saskatoon Transit labour dispute after the city served a new lockout notice following a ruling that found the Sept. 20 lockout illegal.
The city served another lockout notice on Amalgamated Transit Union Local 615 (ATU 615) hours after the first lockout was ruled illegal by the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board (SLRB).
The new lockout takes effect at 1 p.m. Sunday and will not affect Access Transit users.
FULL COVERAGE: Saskatoon Transit lockout
On Friday, a SLRB panel ruled the first lockout of around 330 ATU 615 workers on Sept. 20 was illegal as there was a pending workplace complaint yet to be heard by the board.
City officials believed they were in a legal position at the time and said they were surprised by the ruling.
The board had ordered the city to lift the lockout and pay compensation.
ATU 615 President Jim Yakubowski believes the second lockout is also illegal as there are other applications before the labour board.
“We don’t believe either party is in any legal position right now because there are matters pending before the board,” stated Yakubowski.
The city disagrees.
“We definitely know the union has made other applications,” stated Jorgenson. “ Our legal advice is that those are not pending before the board therefore we issued the (lockout) notice.”
Transit workers are in a legal strike position, but Yakubowski said the objective is to reach a settlement with minimum impact to the city.
He also said no decision has been made yet on whether to go back to the labour board for a ruling on whether the new lockout is legal.
At issue in the labour dispute is wages and the pension plan.
“The City’s objectives remain the same. We want a contract with ATU before winter, and we want pension plan changes that ensure the long-term sustainability of the plan,” says Jeff Jorgenson, the city’s general manager of transportation and utilities.
The city is offering a 10 per cent wage increase over four years along with modifications to the general pension plan to address a $6.7-million deficit.
Council unanimously voted on Sept. 22 to make changes to a bylaw to deal with the deficit, which affected ATU 615 members who have been without a contract since December 2012.
The labour board has since ordered a halt to any further changes to the transit pension plan which the union says has an $80-million surplus, not a deficit.
According to city officials, the last wage offer from the union was a 19 per cent hike over four years.
”ATU’s demands far exceed what we are prepared to ask Saskatoon citizens and Transit customers to pay,” says Jorgenson.
The city is looking to bring back veteran mediator Vince Ready in an attempt to reach a new contract. Ready has already met once with both sides.
One thing the two sides did agree on is to meet at 1 p.m. on Sunday to discuss how to implement Friday’s ruling.
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