With a potential transit strike looming, Red Deer city council held a special meeting on Tuesday on labour relations with its unionized bus drivers and maintenance staff.
What came out of the close-door meeting was kept confidential. But the city is making preparation for possible service disruptions.
The City of Red Deer released the following statement on Tuesday: After eight days of bargaining and one day of mediation, “an agreement between The City of Red Deer and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 569 has not been reached.
“At this time there are no service disruptions to transit. If a work stoppage occurs there will be impacts to transit service…. We will inform customers and citizens as soon as possible.”
The City of Red Deer plans to post any information about potential schedule changes or service stoppages on its website and also share it through local media. “We will make every effort to communicate this information broadly to our community.”
Meanwhile, the City stated it is continuing efforts to reach an agreement with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 569.
On Sept. 1, there was a breakdown in negotiations, triggering a provincially mandated 14-day “cooling off” period. Until this period is complete, a formal strike vote cannot take place. The period ends on Friday.
If the two parties are not returning to the negotiating table, under Alberta Labour Relations rules, 72-hour notice must be provided by either the union or employer before a strike or lock-out.
Wages are one of the main sticking points in these negotiations. The union is wanting to catch up on salary increases after its members took two years of zero per cent during the city’s fiscally tight times in the pandemic. The ATU feels the city isn’t offering enough. Six-day work days for some members, and pressure to take part-time positions were other issues.
The local union’s 130 members voted 99 per cent to take strike action last week. These workers also held a “practice picket” near Sorensen Station on Saturday to raise public awareness.
