bradm Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 Bus union, city agree: No more strikes The union representing OC Transpo drivers has ceded its right to strike.In exchange, the city has agreed that all future disputes with ATU Local 279, which represents bus drivers and mechanics, will be resolved through interest arbitration.In this process, an independent third party resolves bargaining disputes.Union members must still ratify the proposal.Interim mayor Michel Bellemare made the announcement at yesterday's city council meeting.The union and the city have been in binding arbitration since a bitter 53-day strike, which ended at the end of January."Council wants to be sure that the residents and the businesses of this city will never have to go through another transit strike," said Bellemare, who is in the mayor's chair while Larry O'Brien is on a leave of absence during his influence-peddling trial.The union was the first to bring up the idea to eliminate the right to strike after meeting with Bellemare and city staff in recent weeks.Since the strike ultimately went to arbitration, the union said it wanted to spare passengers and residents the "pain" and "frustration" of another transit strike."This proposal has been put forward as a way of resolving future disputes between the parties in a way that avoids hardship to the public, to the city and our membership," said Andre Cornellier, president of ATU Local 279.'WELCOME STEP'Coun. Alex Cullen, chairman of the city's transit committee, supports the decision."Our experience at the City of Ottawa shows that settlements through arbitration have not resulted in wage settlements that are above the norm," he said. "And we know the price of a service disruption is just too high. This is a welcome step."Councillors yesterday agreed residents will be the big winners in guaranteeing no more transit strikes."The citizens will be happy to know never again will there be a transit strike in the City of Ottawa," said Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Diane Deans.The key issue in the strike was who would control driver scheduling.Aloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberdinghy Posted May 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 This is just great. Contract ended March 31 2008.It's now the end of May 2009.Have we signed anything yet? Have we heard anything yet?This took all the drivers at work today completely by surprise.Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hux Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 Kinda how I was surprised when I had to pay $20 a day for parking during the bus strike? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 oh sa-nap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberdinghy Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 WE GOT FUCKED...Just so everyone knows.Screwed, blued and tattooed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Evil_Mouse Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Heard this today on the radio. Ouch - sorry news indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradm Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/10/09/ottawa-transit-strike-arbitrator-ruling.htmlAloha,Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Sorry to hear that dude.At least we know when the next strike will be:The arbitrator's ruling will be incorporated into a three-year collective agreement set to expire in March 2011. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberdinghy Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Cornellier is apparently anti-strike now.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phorbesie Posted October 10, 2009 Report Share Posted October 10, 2009 what did you bus folks get out of this whole drawn out process/strike anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booche Posted October 10, 2009 Report Share Posted October 10, 2009 A job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberdinghy Posted October 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2009 Funny guy...I already had a job.Basically...we got nothing, except a guarantee of 7 1/2 hours a day...The city wanted to cut us at 6 hours. We also got a spread of 12 hours for splits. The city wanted 14. It's hard to explain, but it's a win.We got 8.25 % raise over 3 years, which is a little better than was originally offered.What we lost. Scheduling. Basically, for me, what this means is I'll probably, after 6 years, end up working weekends again. I'll most likely be stuck working different shifts everyday, with a Tuesday off here, and a Thursday off there.but we'll see.In the end...we should have taken the last deal before we went on strike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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