Striking GO Transit workers, Metrolinx to meet Friday as GO buses remain out of service

GO buses will be out of service for the rest of the week as the union representing thousands of GO Transit workers and Metrolinx are not expected to meet until Friday.

Metrolinx, the Crown agency responsible for GO Transit, confirmed the meeting to CTV News Toronto Tuesday night, saying it is pleased that the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) has agreed to return to the bargaining table.

"Metrolinx remains hopeful an agreement can be reached to welcome back our ATU colleagues and get our GO buses back on the road for our customers," the statement read, noting that Friday's meeting will be their 21st bargaining session since April.

EarlIer Tuesday, hundreds of GO Transit workers were back on the picket lines a day after launching a strike that has hampered GO bus service around the Greater Toronto Area.

Some 2,200 workers – including bus operators, station attendants, plant and fleet maintenance workers, transit safety officers as well as office personnel – walked off the job Monday after failing to reach a deal with the province.

The workers, represented by ATU Local 1587, have said the main sticking point in the negotiations is over contracting out work.

Workers carried signs and chanted slogans outside of the Willowbrook maintenance facility in Etobicoke Tuesday morning.

“We have worked through the pandemic on the frontlines putting ourselves in harm's way, the employer hasn't taken care of us,” ATU National President John Di Nino said. “More importantly, we're capped with a one per cent wage increase under Bill 124, which is shameful and they want to contract out our work. We need job protection for our sisters and brothers, for the men and women who move this province and move this city and we need it now.”

ATU International President John Costa flew in from the U.S. for the rally and spoke with CP24.

“Would you sign an agreement that I come here and put my heart and soul in and do a good job but at the same time, I agree that you can give my job away, subcontract it out for a lower bid?” Costa said. “So we're here to unite, we're here in solidarity.”

He pointed out that during the pandemic transit workers were treated “like heroes” but not anymore.

“We've lost 230 members to COVID. We had tens of thousands sick and they stand here and called us heroes but then when you get to the table, you treat us like this with this disrespect. You can't have it both ways,” Costa said.

The workers have been without a contract since June and voted 93 per cent in favour of a strike mandate in August.

A strike was set to begin on Oct. 31, but was delayed while members considered a new offer which ultimately did not pan out. The two sides negotiated over the weekend, but failed to reach a deal.

Metrolinx says there is no GO bus service until further notice because of the strike, but GO trains and UP Express trains continue to operate.

The agency said new issues were raised over the weekend which couldn’t be addressed in time.

“We’re hoping to get clear language in the contract with regards to contracting out,” one worker told CP24 from the picket line Tuesday.

Another said she would stay on strike “as long as it takes” to change the language around contracting out work.

Both sides have said they are willing to return to the negotiating table.