Job-action notice served

The union representing transit workers has served the city job-action notice, but it seems unlikely that bus drivers would jump first to a strike.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 588, which represents about 230 city employees, sent the City of Regina 48-hour notice of job action late Sunday night after holding an emergency union meeting. Transit workers voted 94 per cent in favour of taking job action, which would occur less than a month before the Grey Cup is to be held in the city, drawing thousands of people to Regina.

But local president Don Baker said the move is a negotiation tactic aimed to bring the city back to the bargaining table. If the city has not responded by Tuesday evening, Baker said job action may not even occur right away. He anticipates it would start with bus drivers refusing to wear their uniforms or communicate over the radio.

“WE’RE NOT TRYING TO MAKE LIFE DIFFICULT FOR THE RIDING PUBLIC.” DON BAKER

“We’re not trying to make life difficult for the riding public,” Baker said. “So we’re going to start out with something small and slow, but we’re giving the city ample opportunity to listen to where we’re at and come back to the table before there’s any job action.”

The two sides have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement for nine months. The last time they met was on Sept. 18, Baker said.

Brian LeGard, the city’s manager of labour relations, said that the 15 items the union is asking for — ranging from pay increases to more time off for special leave requests — would equate to a 20 per cent increase.

“I understand from the union perspective that they’ve tried to leverage major events and things like that that could cause the employer to reconsider their position,” Baker said, “but it has to be realistic as well, and affordable for the taxpayers.”

City officials are determining what their next move will be in response to the union’s job-action notice. Asked if bus routes would be cancelled if drivers went on strike, LeGard said “it could, yeah.”

However, he could not say whether the city would hire replacement workers to keep operations going.

“At this point, I don’t know if I can even comment on that,” LeGard said. “We’re working through that right now ourselves.”

In 2005, transit workers went on strike, resulting in bus operations shutting down for about three weeks, he noted.

But Baker insists going on strike would be a last resort, saying employees want to remain at work but are frustrated that contract negotiations have stalled. He said morale among transit workers is low.

At the meeting Sunday, Baker said members were “appalled” that the city has filed an unfair labour practice complaint against the union through the Saskatchewan Labour Relations Board.

“Transit’s at a very fragile time right now,” Baker said, noting the department needs to hire more mechanics to keep buses in good working condition — an issue the city has faced for months.

“I guess you could say it’s on lifesupport. We’re trying to improve transit as a whole, and if we’re using these methods (job action), it’s for the betterment of not just employees, but Regina Transit as a whole.”