STRIKE: Mayor looks to take legal action amid severe transit delays in Brampton

Mayor Patrick Brown says he’s considering taking legal steps to get Brampton Transit back on track as picket lines of striking city workers are causing severe delays.

Brown told INsauga.com on Thursday that the disruptions to the city’s transit services due to an ongoing work action could drag on with no end in sight.

He also said the city is considering taking legal steps to end the delays caused by staff shortages and picket lines at transit facilities.

Brown told INsauga.com that the city will look at all options to end the headache for residents, including an “injunction” he said on CP24 on Friday.

But there are two different unions involved in the delays – one representing workers like technical staff that are actively on strike, and another for transit operators that are giving them support.

Canadian Union of Public Employees 831, which represents approximately 1,200 municipal workers in Brampton, announced the strike on Thursday after negotiations broke down with the city with wages the biggest sticking point for the union.

Its members include some transit staff along with workers in other departments like public works and court services, who have been picketing outside Brampton Transit facilities.

But bus drivers and operators are under Amalgamated Transit Union 1573, and some of its members have refused to cross the picket lines in support of the CUPE colleagues.

ATU 1573 President Andrew Salabie said in a letter shared with members that transit operators union is not in a strike position but that workers are “showing solidarity by standing with our neighboring (sic) union.”

“Tomorrow will be another test to our unity,” the letter dated Nov. 7 and shared online reads. “This is solidarity. This is strength.”

The letter says ATU 1573 operators who encounter picket lines when heading to work at Brampton Transit facilities are instructed to “wait for further information from your ATU elected representative on site.”

As for negotiations, Brown says the city has offered CUPE 831 an identical deal accepted by its members in Mississauga just this summer which includes a 3 per cent raise.

But the union is asking for pay increases of between 4.5 to 6 per cent over five years according to reports, and says the Mississauga deal shouldn’t be the benchmark as that city has around 250 CUPE 831 employees compared to the approximately 1,200 in Brampton.

Brampton Transit has been keeping riders updated about the disruptions on social media and says “services are experiencing significant disruptions.”

“Riders are advised to make alternate travel arrangements,” an update on Friday reads. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”

To find a full list of city services impacted by the CUPE 831 strike click here.