The labour dispute between the city of Moncton and Codiac Transpo employees came to a head Tuesday night.
Roughly 90 bus drivers, mechanics and other workers have been without a collective agreement for two years, and members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1290 have been in a strike position since April 1.
“Last night we got a hold of everybody and everybody was upbeat considering what was going on,” says union official Alan McGrath. “They were standing strong.”
After two years of bitter labour unrest between the city and the ATU, the city decided the current situation couldn’t continue.
“Continuing on in this fashion would simply result in ongoing service reductions, more unplanned cancellations and increasingly unreliable service and a union with no motivation to come back to the table,” says Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc.
“We believe that a lockout is the only option,” says Moncton City Manager Jacques Dube. “We have now to get both parties back to the negotiating table.”
The union says they will do that, but they would like to see some different faces on the other side of the bargaining table.
“Maybe get somebody different at the table who has a little more credibility and a little more honest and straightforward with us,” says McGrath.
The ATU rejected the city’s last and self-described “best offer” of a 2.75 per cent wage increase each year, over the next five years. LeBlanc says that was a mistake.
“It would have been prudent, it would have been smart, it would have been responsible for the union to accept the offer the city had put on the table some time ago,” says LeBlanc.
Today, the Codiac Transpo call centre received about 300 calls an hour from people looking for answers. City officials say they have some plans in place to help people get around during the lockout.
“Staff will be rolling out a taxi chit program that will allow riders to take advantage of reduced fares to help offset the cost of travel,” says Codiac Transpo’s general manager, John Allain.
The transit service carries more than 7,000 people each day.
For those riders who have purchased passes, the city says it is offering a refund for any unused passes and a pro-rated refund for partially-used passes.
