Ongoing transit strike deepens crisis for former users
Posted Feb 27, 2012 05:41:20 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A new online petition calling for an end to the Metro Transit strike isn’t having much of an impact on regional councillors.
More than 200 people have signed the petition since it launched Saturday, asking the city to agree to binding arbitration.
But several councillors say they’re not comfortable with a third party making a decision that will affect taxpayers.
Coun. Dawn Sloane appears to be the exception. She tells the Herald there’s a lack of trust on both sides – and arbitration is the only way to settle the strike.
As the standoff continues, the situation is becoming more unbearable for transit users who are having to spend precious dollars on cabs, or rely on friends and family for transport.
Thomas, who uses a motorized wheelchair, says he can’t believe the dispute is dragging on so long over the issue of scheduling.
“You have a child, or something that you have to attend to, why can’t you use a sick day, or a vacation day?” he asked.
Thomas says he’s lucky to have a motorized wheelchair, but says there’s plenty of other transit users with disabilities who aren’t so lucky.
The executive director of the Parker Street Food and Furniture Bank says he’s hearing stories from former transit users who are going to increasingly extreme lengths to run their daily errands.
“The other day, a man left home at 5:30 in the morning, and we open at 8:30, so he had a long struggle to get here and then to carry his food home,” said Mel Boutilier. “Fortunately we were able to arrange a drive back home for him.”
Boutilier says his clients are increasingly frustrated by the standoff between Metro Transit and the Amalgamated Transit Union, and plenty say they’d happily take the job – with or without rostering.
“They have some information as to the wages that the drivers make,” he said. “They feel that if they’re making those kinds of wages, they should be able to make some kind of arrangement to get a few concessions, but they need to get it over with.”
The unionized drivers walked off the job on Feb. 2.
