York Region Transit cancels contract with First Canada
Hamid Adem
Staff Writer
@excalweb
Commuters of York Region, your wait may be over. Well, for some of you, at least.
York Region Transit (YRT) has decided to cancel its contract with First Canada.
This comes almost three months after drivers affiliated with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 (ATU 113), Miller Transit and Veolia Transit decided to walk off last October. Combined, they provided 60 per cent of York region’s bus service.
“There are several reasons the workers are going on strike,” says Bill Reno, spokesman for ATU 113. “They are being paid 30 per cent less than all other transit workers in the GTA. They are receiving inferior health care benefits that are not fully compensated by the employer. The working conditions are horrible, they [work] 14 to 15 hour work days, they don’t receive sick days, and are forced to come to work sick or lose a day’s pay, which is certainly not good for public safety.”
Reno says the YRT only terminated First Canada’s contract to “intimidate Viva workers” to vote in favour of the contract.
“They [thought], ‘we’ll scare the Viva workers to accept an inferior offer,’ but it didn’t work,” he says. “They were not threatened or intimidated; they voted against the contract.”
York region will be reviewing a contract with a different service provider, with partial service expected to resume by February 5. A YRT representative says she still does not have any information regarding who will be replacing First Canada.
In the meantime, Miller Transit and Veolia Transit are expected to respond to the region about their stance by January 20.
