Negotiations are “at an impasse” as the deadline to reach a deal in order to avoid a Toronto transit strike looms, the president of the union representing 12,000 TTC workers says.
“We have a major problem with our negotiating situation right now where the TTC is not bargaining in order to get a deal,” Marvin Alfred, the President of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, said at a Thursday morning press conference.
“Right now, the TTC is bargaining as though we have lost our right to strike. We have it back proudly and it’s a problem for them, it’s not a problem for us.”
Alfred said the union is not only fighting not just for job security, benefits and wages, but for “the integrity of the network of the TTC.”
TTC workers, including bus, streetcar and subway drivers, are set to go on strike as of 12:01 a.m. Friday if a deal isn’t reached between the union and the City of Toronto.
The chair of the Toronto Transit Commission said service will continue until 2 a.m. Friday even if transit workers go on strike.
Toronto city Coun. Jamaal Myers said in a statement the agency has yet to reach an agreement with unionized workers, but he’s “encouraged” both sides remain at the bargaining table.
Meanwhile, Ontario’s provincial transit agency says it has “contingencies” in place if TTC workers go ahead with a strike.
Metrolinx, which runs GO trains, buses and the UP Express in and around Toronto, said it was preparing for the possibility of the strike, but noted that GO Transit moves around 250,000 people per day, while the TTC moves around 2.5 million people per day.
More to come.
— With files from Isaac Callan and The Canadian Press
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