This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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A last minute deal agreed by Metrolinx and the bus drivers’ union past a midnight deadline into the early hours on Monday has averted a seemingly eminent strike by GO Transit bus drivers. Consequently, regular GO bus service is running as scheduled. A spokeswoman for Metrolinx, Anne Marie Aikins, confirmed during a press release that the public transit agency and the bus drivers’ union, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1587, reached a tentative agreement at about 2:30 a.m.
Earlier, bus drivers had threated to walk away from the job at midnight if a deal was not reached. Both parties continued negotiations past the deadline and finally conceived a tentative four-year agreement, though it still needs to be voted on by union members. ATU Local 1587 president, Dan Harris, mentioned in a press release that “we are very pleased that a fair and equitable agreement was reached without any disruption to GO Transit service.” Furthermore, he added that “our members were committed from day one to negotiating a fair collective agreement so that they can continue to serve GO Transit passengers.”
Overall, ATU Local 1587 represents approximately 1,850 bus drivers, ticket and GO station attendants, maintenance workers, transit safety officers and office staff. Go Transit is a division of Metrolinx, i.e. the regional transit authority for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. Negotiators for the two parties spent much of Sunday hunkered down in a hotel near Toronto Pearson International Airport, declining to speak to media.
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