Both sides in transit strike prepare to table new offers
Posted Feb 7, 2012 02:41:51 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After days of deadlock in the Metro Transit workers’ strike, with neither the city nor the union showing any sign of being willing to budge or be the first to blink, the union said it would make the first move. Local politicians were meeting at the same time to tell their negotiating team to do the same thing.
Local Amalgamated Transit Union president Ken Wilson made the first announcement on The Rick Howe Show, saying his team wants to show leadership.
“We have a counter-offer prepared,” said Wilson. “I’ll take the night to edit it one more time, review it, make sure it’s correct, and I’ll be e-mailing that to the Director of Metro Transit, Ed Robar, and CC-ing the conciliator at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”
Wilson says his union members have the public’s support.
After a lengthy in-camera meeting at City Hall, the Mayor’s office released a statement:
The HRM Bargaining Team today received direction from Council to take a new, Council-approved proposal to the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) leaders and the conciliator tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.
“There are only three ways to pay for a growing Transit service – the taxpayer, the fare box and operational efficiencies,” said Mayor Peter Kelly. “While we’re encouraged that the union wants to meet, our responsibility to the public is to create efficiencies first. ATU needs to be part of that solution within any proposal that’s on the table.”HRM learned through the media that the ATU Bargaining Team has a proposal it wants to bring to negotiations on Wednesday.
