Winnipeg Transit warns of delays, cancellations amid contract negotiations

By: Tyler Searle Posted: 5:51 PM CST Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023

The City of Winnipeg is warning transit riders they may experience an increase in late or cancelled buses starting Monday, as contract negotiations with the union representing drivers heat up.

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The City of Winnipeg is warning transit riders they may experience an increase in late or cancelled buses starting Monday, as contract negotiations with the union representing drivers heat up.

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This article was published 26/11/2023 (683 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg is warning transit riders they may experience an increase in late or cancelled buses starting Monday, as contract negotiations with the union representing drivers heat up.

Winnipeg Transit warned of the upcoming delays and cancellations in a statement posted to X (formerly known as Twitter) Sunday.

The announcement comes in the wake of an Amalgamated Transit Union 1505 news release Friday, in which the union said unsafe working conditions and a high demand for overtime are causing undue stress on transit operators.

JESSICA LEE / FREE PRESS FILES
On an average weekday, Winnipeg Transit carries over 171,290 passengers.

“There is a prevailing sentiment that the current management is not adequately addressing or taking seriously the employees’ apprehensions in these areas,” the release said. “As a result, the union will be initiating a series of job actions to voice their concerns and advocate for improved compensation.”

The first of such actions will include a ban on voluntary overtime for transit workers. The move comes after the union rejected a memorandum of agreement put forth during recent bargaining negotiations.

The union represents more than 1,400 transit workers in Winnipeg and Brandon.

On an average weekday, Winnipeg Transit carries over 171,290 passengers. The service employs 1,560 people, including approximately 1,100 bus operators, the city says on its website.

The last collective agreement, inked in January 2019, expired in early January. The sides have been in the conciliation process since then; union members voted in favour of a strike mandate in July.

Membership rejected an earlier proposed agreement Oct. 30, before transit and union officials returned to negotiate the now-rejected proposed second agreement.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

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Tyler Searle
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