The York Region Transit Strike Nears its End
We are definitely in the final days of the strike now. Yesterday, ATU Local 113 members approved the tentative agreement reached with Veolia on Tuesday; Regional Council approved a new contract with TOK Transit Ltd., a subsidiary of Tokmakjian, as First Canada’s replacement to provide transit service in the north division; and Local 1587 announced it has reached a tentative agreement with its employer, Miller Transit, on which members are expected to vote this Saturday.
Strictly speaking, the strike won’t be over unless that vote passes. However, as before, I have no doubt it will. All the pieces are falling into place for transit service to start up again.
Already the Region has announced Viva service will resume February 4th. Service in the north division is being phased in over time in as TOK gets up and running, but the latest is that we can expect service on route 98 starting February 5th with route 55 to resume February 12th. We don’t know yet when buses in the southeast division might be rolling again, but it seems reasonable to think if the agreement is ratified this Saturday we might see service there by February 4th as well.
That’s about all the information that’s been released so far. We don’t know yet anything beyond a few details of the agreement between Local 113 and Veolia, and nothing has been said about the tentative deal between Local 1587 and Miller. Hopefully some of this will become known over the next week.
Tentative yay! When would the 30 days of free service start? Not until every single route is running again I assume?
@Erin: Not sure. The Region says our free month is coming “as soon as possible”, but (as Forrest pointed out to me) this may not mean February as a lot of monthly passes will already have been sold. Plus, like you say, service will probably be a bit piecemeal for the first part of the month.
So my guess is either the free “month” will start in the middle of February, or we’ll get March instead. Assuming the vote passes on Saturday we’ll probably know from the Region soon afterwards.
I think it kind of sucks that it’s only going to be 30 days of free service, but at this point, I’m happy anything is coming my way.
I will be making sweet, sweet butt love the the seat of my 300 comes February. I cannot stress how happy I am to have options getting to and from work again.
@Alyssa: I think it’ll be more than that. In the latest update on the YRT strike-information page they’ve stopped using “month” altogether except to describe it as “a minimum one month” of free service. I think they’re going to surprise us next week with a six- or eight-week free period.
Also, that’s, ah… I’m sure that’s going to be quite a sight on the 300 next month.
Interesting. Tokmakjian has the posting for employees on their website (http://www.tokmakjian.com/) but look at the requirements:
1) BZ Licence
—>2) 3 years experience in transit
Hey, so my rump is looking forward to the bus, what can I say?
Interestingly enough, a windfall of the strike was that my activity level increased an extra 30 minutes a day, which has helped my running pace;
On the downside, seeing as we got more rain than snow this year, there were some soggy days as well that nearly ruined my laptop.
45 free bus days would be ideal (though I’d take more if given) – one free day of service for every two days of incomplete service during the strike.
I’d love to be that 300 bus.
I’m happy that service is back, but I sure hope we won’t be facing this disruption again. Hopefully, both sides will have learned their lesson.
@Alyssa: Yeah, there were actually a few upsides to the strike, despite the huge inconvenience. Watch for my “silver lining” post later this week.
@Daniel: I wouldn’t get your hopes up; the union exists to be at odds with its employers, so that’s a fight that won’t be going away. Here’s some good news: It looks like I was wrong about the Veolia contracts lining up (the union was hoping for a three-year contract for this reason, and got a four-year one instead), and considering Local 1587 also says it didn’t want the five-year term it got we’re probably spared from seeing a strike like this one again any time soon.