Calgary News Watch

Do you remember in 2001 when the bus drivers and mechanics went on strike for 50 long days?  How about a repeat?

At least the city and the union appear to making some headway after a 16 hour talk that ended at 1:30 a.m., early Thursday morning. 

The city has offered a few concessions: a 12 percent pay raise over the next 3 years.  The union had been seeking a 13 percent increase over 30 months. 

Perhaps more importantly, the city has offered more increases in pay to the shuttle bus drivers and the C-Train operators.

Part of the reason the union has been in disagreement with the city is over the addition of shuttle buses. The union foresees bus drivers losing routes to these shuttles (who can transport almost as many passengers as a standard bus). The problem with this swap out was the $10 difference in pay and the loss of hundreds of jobs. (Shuttles and bus driver positions are not considered interchangeable. A shuttle driver could not drive the standard bus and vice versa.)

“There was some changes, and we have to measure those, and what the impact is and what it may and may not resolve,” Mike Mahar, local president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, said. “See if it fits. If it’s something we can take back to the membership.”

The union was taking the day to review the current offer.

Of course a strike doesn’t just affect workers and the numerous small and large businesses that rely on them. Some of the city’s school bus routes would be affected, too, potentially causing the shifting of school schedules.

“The fact that they are still talking is good news,” Vickie Megrath, city spokeswoman said. “The bottom line is the bargaining table is the only place where we can get a deal.”

So now we sit and wait for the union to either agree or counter the city’s offer. Certainly a strike would cause more headaches for city officials than making concessions would.  

Source: CBCNEWS and Calgary Sun

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2007 at 1:04 pm and is filed under Calgary Transit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or Search Engine Friendly trackback (rel='external') from your own site.