Peterborough Transit drivers could be off the job later this month as contract talks with the City of Peterborough have stalled.
In a release, the city says negotiations have been ongoing since the spring. In August the Amalgamated Transit Union 1320 says members voted 93 per cent in favour of strike action.
The union has set an Oct. 27th deadline to reach an agreement with legal strike action set for Sunday, Oct. 29 at 12:01 a.m.
“We continue to work with the union to see if we can reach an agreement before that time,” said Kevin Jones, the city’s transportation division manager.
Jones wouldn’t outline what the issues were or how far apart both sides were.
“I think we are pretty confident that a deal can be made,” he said. “We just have to find the right package and conditions and have the union see that there is value in that proposition.”
However, ATU 1320 president Tyler Burns – a transit driver himself – says a strike is the last resort. Some of the key issues are wages and job safety.
‘The physical violence while operating the vehicle – we’ve had an increase in the number of incidents with firearms at the terminal (and) on the buses,” said Burns. “The city doesn’t seem to be taking them as seriously as they should be.”
Further meetings are being planned next week, Jones said.
However, he says there are some preparations being made in the event the 107 employees hit the picket line.
“We have doing a little bit of preparation in terms of ‘what if’,” he said.
“But our focus really right now is trying to get a deal but obviously we have to do some planning in the event we can’t reach that deal,” said Jones.
“I’m not at liberty right now to say what those plans are right now but suffice to say our focus now is trying to get an arrangement.”
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