ATU Local 1320 experienced
its first strike action in 2005. The
old contract had expired as of June 30, 2005.
Negotiations had been underway prior to that date and a tentative
settlement was reached. The membership
of Local 1320 voted 83% in favour of accepting the tentative deal a few days
later in late June. The city’s
negotiating team indicated that they had stayed within the guidelines mandated
to them by City Council and were confident that Council would approve it.
City Council requested more
information and delayed making a decision.
Since they were not meeting on a regular basis, it wasn’t until mid
August that City Council finally looked at the tentative agreement and voted to
turn it down. Not only did they turn
down the tentative agreement, but they also vetoed a wage review adjustment
which had been formalized earlier in June and which was a major promise in the
previous contract negotiations.
Imagine the disappointment, anger and bitterness felt by our members.
A conciliator was unable to
find any willingness to compromise by either side and a No Board Report was
filed. We were in a legal strike
position as of September 24. What a
unique and bizarre situation to be in!
We had accepted the negotiated deal and yet we had to go on strike to
get the employer to live up to the deal their agents had offered us.
At 4 pm on September 26 the
union informed management that we were exercising our right to strike. Most of the buses were parked at the Bus
Terminal. We donned our strike signs
and marched to City Hall with some members returning to the Bus Terminal to
stop management from moving buses to the bus storage facility.
Day 2 was spent at the Bus
Terminal that is also part of a municipal parking garage. Traffic around the downtown corridor was
certainly grid locked.
Day 3 was spent at gates of
the bus storage facility. This yard is
also shared by Public Works and garbage collection that day didn’t occur. We thank the members of C.U.P.E. 504 for
respecting our picket lines and for their support and encouragement. A rally was also held that afternoon at
City Hall with enthusiastic support from Trent University students.
City and union officials
spent the next three days talking and came up with another tentative
agreement. The union membership held
their meeting on October 3 at the very same time that City Council held their
meeting. Only 59% of the membership
voted in favour of accepting the deal and City Council did vote to accept it as
well. On October 5, we returned to
work with a new two year contract.
There are so many people to
thank for their support. ATU Local 113
(Toronto) very generously supplied our picket signs. George Crocker, President of the ATU local in St. John’s,
Newfoundland, travelled to Peterborough to offer encouragement and
support. We sincerely thank our loyal riders who firmly supported us by
making many phone calls and sending many emails to city officials. Despite the personal inconveniences caused
by the strike, our riders understood our position and gave us encouragement
and some even came out to picket with
us. Our brothers and sisters of CUPE
Local 504 were very supportive and respected our picket line. The other unions representing other city
workers were also very helpful and supportive. To all of these people and to those who we may not have named
on this list, our heartfelt and sincere thanks.
Special thanks to some very
special people --- Gary Sager (President), Julie Craib (V-P),
Barry Wakeford (Sec/Treas), Marty Sanderson (Executive Board Member), Rob Sloan
(Executive Board Member) and Larry
Kinnear (ATU International V-P) for the countless hours they spent negotiating
and working diligently under very trying circumstances for the benefit of all
members. The level of frustration and
sleepless nights they endured cannot be truly measured but it was
enormous. And yet, despite all the huge
obstacles, they always had smiles on their faces and worked even harder to
overcome and beat the giant. You led
us with wisdom and with honour, integrity and example. We are in your debt.
Our strike photo galleries can now be viewed in two different
ways. The links to the
two original strike photo galleries
are below. If you have
PowerPoint or PowerPoint Viewer installed on your computer, you will be
able to watch the two galleries as slideshows. If you would like to download a free version of PowerPoint
Viewer, see the information below.
PowerPoint Slideshow
Regular/Original Galleries
Photo Gallery Security &
Scab Photo
Gallery Security & Scab
Gallery Gallery
Hint
for PowerPoint Slideshows: Right click on a slide in the show
and then click on “Full
Screen”. To return the original
window, Right click and then click on “End Show”. To return to this page and cut the slideshow short, click on
the “BACK” button.
To view a PowerPoint show with photographs and captions as only our own LOL Marty Sanderson can compile, click HERE
To return to Site Directory
If you do not have PowerPoint installed in your
computer, you can download a free PowerPoint viewer. Simply click on the following link to go to a
reliable download site. It only takes a few minutes to download this FREE
viewer. You may need to use your BACK button or link in
FAVORITES to return to this website.