Majority of Winnipeg Transit workers reject contract proposal

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This article was published 30/10/2023 (707 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The members of the local branch of the Amalgamated Transit Union have voted to reject a tentative agreement proposed by Winnipeg Transit.

The union local, which represents more than 1,400 Winnipeg and Brandon bus drivers and other transit workers, voted on Friday. The tentative agreement was rejected by 81 per cent of the membership.

Union spokeswoman Raina Lyall said Monday the proposed memorandum of agreement did not meet the membership’s asks on wage increases, among other concerns, but would not elaborate on the specifics.

“The membership just weren’t happy with where the wage levels were for everyone, operators and (plant and) equipment included,” Lyall said.

The last collective agreement, inked in January 2019, expired in early January this year. The ATU and city have been in the conciliation process since then, but union members voted in favour of a strike mandate in July.

Lyall said the union and transit officials will sit down again this week.

“We are going to be going back to conciliation to see if we can come to a better agreement,” she said. “But if we can’t get anywhere with management, after potentially taking a second agreement back, then we have our strike mandate and we will use it if we need it.”

City of Winnipeg spokesman David Driedger said although officials are disappointed ATU’s members rejected the tentative agreement, they are committed to finishing negotiations.

“The city and ATU’s negotiation committees have already been in contact with each other about next steps, and the conciliator has been contacted, as well,” Driedger said.

City chief administrative officer Michael Jack called the rejection “unfortunate” in an email Friday to city council and the mayor 0btained by the Free Press.

“We will await an explanation from the ATU leadership on what caused the rejection and re-evaluate our position as required,” he said in the email.

North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty said he, too, was disappointed by the rejection — and called the resounding rejection an “unusual circumstance.”

“We go in and negotiate with the union to find a mutually agreeable resolution. We want to ensure that we don’t have a disruption to our transit service. Many Winnipeggers depend on the transit service on a daily basis and it is one of those essential services that we provide to the residents of Winnipeg so any threat of a disruption is a problem,” Browaty said.

“We’re not saying that that’s happening at this point, just that the proposed agreement that was settled on between labour and management has been rejected. So now we’ll have to go back and figure out, working with the union… what the hang-ups were with their membership.”

— with files from Joyanne Pursaga

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca