Transit drivers ratify new contract

The transit union has ratified a tentative new deal it has reached with the city.

The union, which represents 107 drivers and garage staff, was in a legal strike position as of Oct. 29. The union had been negotiating with the city for a new contract since the spring.

Tyler Burns, a bus driver and president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1320, wrote in an email to The Examiner on Thursday that his membership voted 80.7 percent in favour of the new contract in a secret ballot referendum Wednesday.

Now city council must ratify the deal; that’s expected to happen soon, although no date on that vote was available on Thursday from City Hall.

No details on the deal will be made available until after it’s ratified by city council. In October, Burns told

in an email that the union was demanding competitive wages as well as improvements to working conditions.

For example, Burns wrote that during the recent renovations of the downtown transit station, there was an instance of raw sewage backing up into the drivers’ lunch room – and management didn’t move the workers or provide clean bathrooms.

Burns also described a recent incident where a passenger got on the bus with an imitation gun – and there were initial concerns the gun was real.

He said it took three to five minutes for police to be called because a supervisor wanted to investigate himself.

Burns wrote in October that he wanted City Hall to take these types of incidents seriously or else pay the workers enough so“we can take care of it ourselves.”