OC Transpo union votes on contract
Posted Oct 14, 2011 04:27:14 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – It’s voting day for OC Transpo’s union of drivers, dispatchers and mechanics and there’s a lot more on the bargaining table than a raise.
If this deal between the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279 and the City of Ottawa is ratified it would mean labour peace through the winter and an early start on negotiations for the next full contract.
In the deal members would receive a 2% pay increase that is retro-active to March of 2011 as well as a promise that all maintenance work on OC Transpo LRT trains be done by members of the union. These are items president Garry Queale said are attractive to members.
“It’s very, very positive,” he said of the response from members coming to vote at the Sala San Marco, a convention centre on Preston Street. “I think it’ll go through with a good percentage.”
The union is recommending its members vote to ratify the deal since it puts them in a position to head to the bargaining table this December with some of their needs already met but there is still a long way to go and this deal only lasts until March.
While union vice president Mike Aldridge said he is confident the vote will pass, he said members are still cautious.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been in a situation like this where we have, what we think, is a good offer from the City,” he said. “Of course (members) are waiting to see you know, why has this come apart, and why has the union recommended this.”
Many members were pleased with the deal and would be voting yes. Some are simply hoping to avoid another strike like the last one which ran for 51 days.
Still not everyone sees this deal as positive and will vote no.
Tony has been a driver for more than 7 years and said the deal was made in bad faith with only two members of the union’s bargaining team instead of all six. And he said the deal does not address the key issues.
“It’s an icing over a cake with the cherry on it but they omitted to put in the cake underneath,” he said.
Voting closes at 10p.m. Friday and the results are expected around 11p.m.
