Saskatoon Transit union says no job action until at least Friday

The union that represents Saskatoon Transit workers says there will be no job action until Friday at the earliest.

The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 615 wants to wait for an essential services tribunal hearing set for Friday before it makes any further decisions.

"Up until that point, when we have some clarification from that, until Friday there will not be any job action," said union local president Jim Yakubowski.

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The union has been in a legal strike position since Sunday afternoon. Talks between the city and the province broke down after the two sides couldn't come to terms.

Friday's hearing will deal with the union's essential services agreement with the city, and how that relates to the current round of bargaining.

The union has said it doesn't intend to start with full removal of service, if any job action is taken.

In its notice to the city, the union said strike action could include anything from slowdowns to overtime bans, not wearing uniforms, rotating strikes or a complete work stoppage.

War of words

If a series of press releases issued yesterday is any indication, both sides continue to be far apart, especially when it comes to the union's pension plan.

The union believes the city wants to move workers to a targeted pension plan, allowing the city to cap its contributions to the plan.

The ATU has been very clear that it will not be able to come to terms with the city until differences around the pension plan are resolved.

However, the city said it had to change the structure of the pension plan because it wasn't financially stable, something the union disagrees with. The city has said it managed to sign agreements with eight other unions around these changes to the plan, and will not budge on its decision.

"The city cannot move on the pension plan," read a news release from the city. "We have a responsibility to current transit employees, others in the pension plan and tax payers. The transit union executive doesn't."

The city said it is willing to raise workers wages by 10 per cent. The union said it won't consider any proposal without changes to the pension plan