York Region will not intervene in the labour dispute that has halted much of the region’s public transit for more than a month.

At a council meeting today, the board decided it would not go to the province and seek back-to-work legislation that would mandate York Region Transit workers back on the job.

Council members have been calling on the unions and employers involved in the York Region Transit labour dispute to bring an end to the strike, which began when bus drivers and mechanics walked off the job Oct. 24.

“Neither back to work legislation or arbitration is an acceptable answer to a refusal to negotiate,” York Region chairman and CEO Bill Fisch told reporters. “The answer and the most reasonable way for this to end is for the parties to participate in meaningful negotiations.”

The strike has halted service on about 60 per cent of YRT’s routes, angering riders who rely on public transit to get around.

The main sticking point has been pay. YRT bus drivers earn an average of $20 per hour, and they want to be paid the same as their counterparts in Toronto, Hamilton, Brampton and Mississauga, where drivers are paid an average of $29.

“If York region intervenes the reality of the unions current wage demands would mean a $26 increase for every York Region taxpayer or it would mean an additional 40 cent fare hike for York Region Transit riders,” Fisch told reporters. “We are not prepared to ask taxpayers to do that nor should we have to.”

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A striking York Region Transit worker was struck by a vehicle while walking a picket line in Richmond Hill on Thursday morning.

Ray Doyle, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1587, said the worker wasn’t seriously injured in the collision, which occurred in the bus loop at Richmond Hill Centre.

Doyle said the worker was hit by a car driven by a person who was trying to force his or her way through the picket line.

He said the car’s driver remained at the scene.

York Regional Police officers were called to the scene, but it’s not known if any charges will be laid.

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Morning commuters in York Region experienced delays Tuesday due to labour action by picketing bus workers locked in a contract dispute.

Dozens of York Region Transit employees with First Student, Miller Transit and Viva were out in force starting around 5:30 a.m. at the Keele Street and Bowes Road bus garage in Vaughan.

The CBC’s Colin Butler, reporting from the Veolia Southwest Division garage, said the strikers were marching in the rain and only allowing buses to roll out about every five minutes. Picketers had blocked both entrances.

“They say it might not seem like much, but you will feel it this morning,” he said.

President of ATU Local 1587 Ray Doyle urged frustrated commuters to help them get the transit service back up and running by pressuring politicians to agree to meet them at the bargaining table.

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About 200 striking York Region Transit workers blocked entrances at Finch Subway station for two hours during Thursday’s morning commute.

Hundreds of striking YRT workers showed up outside the station before 6 a.m., blocking YRT busses as they tried to exit and enter the station. The workers removed their pickets just after 8 a.m.

CBC’s Trevor Dunn was at the station Thursday morning.

“I’m looking at one bus right now, it’s filled with commuters and they don’t look happy,” he reported.

One commuter was seen shouting at transit workers, saying they were making him late for work.

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Five weeks into the York Region transit strike, a Progressive Conservative MPP introduced a private members’ bill Wednesday to end the dispute and set it to binding arbitration for a settlement.

The bill is “the only avenue available to us” amid frustration that Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government has taken no action other than offering mediation services and urging all parties to reach a deal restoring bus service for 70,000 riders, said Tory MPP Peter Shurman.

“I hope it serves as a good kick to the labour minister,” said Shurman (Thornhill), also taking shots at York Region Liberal MPPs for not putting more pressure on the government.

Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey said she recognizes the inconvenience of the strike to York bus riders but is not considering back-to-work legislation and urged all parties “to return to the bargaining table as quickly as possible.”

“Our government is not considering or discussing back-to-work legislation,” she added. “The best agreements are those reached through the collective bargaining process.”

While private members’ bills are rarely passed, Shurman said he hopes introducing it will “raise the level of debate” on the York situation.

Aside from commuters taking longer to get to work and hurting the region’s economy, the York Region Catholic School Board has sent a letter urging a settlement because many teenagers are having trouble getting to school on time or at all, said MPP Julia Monroe (York-Simcoe), who is co-sponsoring the bill with fellow Tory MPP Frank Klees (Newmarket-Aurora).

The bill would also declare York Region transit an essential service, preventing further strikes and sending future contract disputes to arbitration if agreements cannot be reached through negotiation.

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(Halifax) – Unionized employees with the Halifax Regional Water Commission have voted strongly in favour of strike action.

CUPE National Representative Marianne Welsh says the members of Local 227 voted 94% in favour of job action in strike votes held yesterday.  Of the 225 workers, 174 voted with 163 voting to support their bargaining committee’s position in this round of contract talks.

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OTTAWA — Garry Queale, president of the union that represents OC Transpo bus drivers, has squelched reports that his members might walk off the job in a wild cat strike.

“We don’t plan to walk off the job at this point,” he said Thursday evening when asked about news reports that the union had threatened a work stoppage.

However, the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 279, also said that other forms of job action are being considered, although wouldn’t specify what those actions might be.

According to Queale, working conditions are especially “poisonous” following the firing earlier this week of a driver who swore and threatened a slightly autistic teenage passenger, but tensions between the union and transit management have been worsening for some time.

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York Region’s transit strike is dragging on with no end in sight.

On Wednesday morning, union heads met with Veolia Transportation (VIVA) representatives — their first face-to-face since they began the strike three weeks ago — but neither side had encouraging things to say.

“The employer made it very clear today that they’re not moving,” said Bob Kinnear, union head at ATU 113.

The contracts in question are between hundreds of workers, represented by two unions, and Miller Transit, First Transit and VIVA.

“The employers have a delusion that we’re going to cave in and accept the final offer,” said Kinnear.

However, Valerie Michael, director of corporate communications for VIVA, said it’s the unions who are being obstinate.

In the meeting Wednesday, she said the union was pushing for better benefits, but that their proposals were vague.

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Wildcat strikes hit more than 110 construction sites throughout Quebec again on Tuesday, but there are signs that the labour disruptions are causing friction between unions and some of their members, who are taking the brunt of public outrage over the work stoppages.

In the face of mounting pressure from the public and politicians, some labour organizations signalled they were backing down amid charges from some workers that the unions were using intimidation tactics.

“We will recommend to our workers that they get back on the work sites [Wednesday] morning,” Gérard Cyr, president of 45,000 member strong Provincial Council of Construction Trade Unions, said late Tuesday afternoon.

The order came down just moments after the National Assembly unanimously adopted a motion “condemning the vandalism and intimidation on construction sites” and reiterating the right of workers and entrepreneurs to work freely in a safe environment.

Minister of Labour Lise Thériault urged construction firms to file complaints and at least 58 entrepreneurs did. But Yvon Guilbault, president of the group representing the province’s electricians, said that construction companies where taken aback by the turmoil and were afraid to denounce the wildcat strikes for fear of reprisal.

“They don’t want to become the target of certain groups,” Mr. Guilbault said.

Tensions on work sites were evident throughout the day. In Montreal, workers knocked down a chain-link gate to shut down construction at an arts centre and chased non-striking workers away. Several workers oppose the illegal strikes but insisted that they had no choice but to walk away.

“They shut us down,” said a worker sitting outside a downtown coffee shop who had planned to work on Tuesday. When asked whether he felt intimidated, the man in his 30s replied, “Let’s just say we were encouraged to walk away by several guys who weighed about 250 pounds.”

The wildcat strikes were taking a toll on the bottom line of several companies and seriously undermining the province’s reputation. In Thurso, a town in the Outaouais region, the strike shut down work by contractors at a project by Vancouver-based entrepreneur Chad Wasilenkoff. He is transforming a hardwood pulp mill into a facility that makes a key ingredient in the manufacture of rayon.

The company, Fortress Paper Inc., has only a few weeks in which to convert the mill, and the strike has blown a big hole in that tight schedule.

Mr. Wasilenkoff figures the lost time adds up to between $500,000 and $600,000 per day in foregone profits, based on today’s commodity prices.

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Tens of thousands of York Region Transit and Viva riders endured an unusually frustrating morning commute Monday on the first day of a strike by 560 York transit workers that threatens to be a long one.

“If a two-week strike doesn’t send a message maybe it’ll have to be two months,” said Bob Kinnear, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, which represents 220 Viva workers employed by Veolia Transport.

That group of drivers, mechanics and maintenance workers stood on the picket lines for two weeks in 2008.

No new talks are scheduled with the three private companies that are contracted to run YRT and Viva bus service.

While GO commuters travelled as usual Monday, following a late-night tentative contract settlement between that company’s bus drivers and Metrolinx, YRT and Viva commuters wandered about Finch Station in confusion and anger.

“I don’t know how I’m going to get to work now,” said Toronto resident Michael Anderson, who relies on the VIVA service to travel to his job in Aurora.

“I’m in a shipping department and my customers are going to be affected by this,” he said.

“Work is 45 minutes away. I’m going to be very late now,” said Janet Abella, who didn’t hear about the strike until she arrived at Finch Station where a handful of YRT staff were helping stranded commuters plan alternate routes.

There was similar frustration at York University, where transit officials were also roaming about the bus loop near Vanier College.

“I’m lucky because my mom doesn’t work on Monday so she dropped me off,” said Mari Kusanagi, a third year humanities student. “But for the rest of the week, I’m going to have to get up twice as early to make it for 8:30 class.”

“I’m definitely going to be late today,” said Yogpin Liu, who usually takes VIVA. He was trying to arrange a carpool to make it in to work.

In an effort to ease the stress on commuters, the transit workers – who overwhelmingly rejected contract offers last week from First Transit, Miller Transit and Veolia – will not be picketing, at least for the next day or two.

“We don’t want to compound that frustration. We don’t see any necessity to impede traffic flow. We don’t think antagonizing the public is going to be beneficial,” said Kinnear. “We want the public to recognize these employees are not being compensated fairly.”

The three striking groups represent about 60 per cent of York Region’s transit workers. A fourth group of Veolia employees will continue to provide service in the southwest part of the region, which is also served by some contracted TTC buses.

A complete list of which routes are cancelled and those not affected by the strike is posted on the website.

VIVA and YRT drivers make a little more than $22 per hour, about $7 less per hour than their GTA counterparts.

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