Campeau school bus drivers serve notice of strike action
TORONTO, Feb. 13, 2019 /CNW/ - School bus drivers working for Campeau Bus Lines' have voted 95.8 per cent in favour of strike action if a collective agreement cannot be reached by 12:01 am Tuesday February 19, 2019.
"Campeau Bus Lines' has violated Canadian labour code in respect to remuneration for school bus drivers," said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. "Our members are committed to providing students with safe and reliable transportation, but are unwilling to allow Campeau to get away with not paying its workers."
More than 200 school bus drivers in Whitby, Ajax, Oshawa, Clarington, Bowmanville, Peterborough, Orono, Cobourg, Port Hope and the Kawartha region are members of Unifor Local 4268, and are negotiating their first collective agreement.
"Campeau needs to recognise and compensate for all working time," said Debbie Montgomery, Unifor Local 4268 President. "A resolution is simple. The company needs to pay workers at a rate consistent with the responsibilities they shoulder. Every parent deserves the comfort of knowing that their children are in the hands of well trained and appropriately compensated professionals."
"This industry is marred by a system where the various student transportation consortiums around the province have the ability to dictate funding models to the private carriers who are contracted to provide the school buses," said Len Poirier Director of Road Transportation. "There is no consistency amongst them and the province needs to step up and correct this flawed system of funding and ensure all funds go to there intended purpose."
The parties continue to have discussions and have agreed to resume negotiations on Thursday February 14, 2019 in an effort to reach a tentative agreement.
Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy, including 2,900 school bus drivers. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.
SOURCE Unifor
Unifor Communications National Representative Hamid Osman at [email protected] or 647-448-2823 (cell).
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