City of Saskatoon orders Transit drivers to wear proper uniforms

The City of Saskatoon hasissuedletters to Saskatoon Transit employees to start wearing proper uniforms, ending a sevenday awareness campaign by the transit union.

On March 9 after a marathon meeting in Saskatoon, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 615 decided to raise awareness in the public eye about their ongoing impasse on a new collective agreement with the City of Saskatoon. So the union executive encouraged its bus drivers to stop wearing uniforms.

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"The majority of our drivers did. There was some concern by a few of the members, especially the new ones, but for the most part, the majority of drivers did," union president Jim Yakubowski said.

"This was our way of raising awareness without disrupting anybody."

Yakubowski said he received two letters over the past week from the City with expectations that drivers go back to wearing their standard issued uniforms as per their collective agreement.

But after the City released a statement to the media about its push to get uniforms back on drivers, Yakubowski instructed his drivers wearuniforms again starting on Wednesday.

"By making the statement that we've done for seven days it served its purpose and we hope to continue reminding our riders and reminding the general public, and council, they have the ability to settle this issue," Yakubowski said.

Both sides have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement which expired in 2012.

City says drivers need to remain professional

In a release the City of Saskatoon said they are committed to negotiating an agreement that meets the best interests of taxpayers, transit employees and transit riders.

In the meantime, the City said Saskatoon Transit customers and the general public need the comfort and confidence of knowing that Saskatoon buses are being drive by qualified transit operators, and standard issued uniforms provide this assurance.

The City maintains it has offered the transit union the same four-year wage package and pension package it offered to the other unions and associations in the City's General Pension Plan. Agreements have been reached with eight other unions, the transit union is the only union yet to accept and ratify an agreement.

The transit union stated they're willing to accept the City's 10 per cent increase on wages, however they don't agree with the pension package offered. In the union's view the pension changes would transfer all the liability of the health of the pension plan onto union members, removing any liability on the City.

No meetings have been scheduled by either the union or the City to continue to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement.