Monday, December 29, 2008

UPDATE: The wait continues for potential federal intervention

There is little to report on the City's call for federal intervention into the weeks-old transit strike. To bring its readers up to speed, the Ottawa Citizen fronted its City section today with a piece recalling the City's request and the union's reaction.

The issue, of course, is whether or not federal labour minister Rona Ambrose will force a supervised second vote on the deal on the table for the union's members. The story buried this paragraph on the story's spill:
Union president André Cornellier has acknowledged that a vote could indeed split his members because the scheduling issue -- the key remaining barrier to a settlement -- affects only a few hundred bus drivers.

The city knows this too well, and is counting on precisely such an outcome. "We certainly believe that our offer is the best offer for all members, not just the privileged few," Mr. Mercier said.

There is no quote from Cornellier, however, backing up that claim.

UPDATE: The Citizen reported later today the first indication of when Ambrose might start to make a decision about intervening in the strike (emphasis ours):

Ambrose says she will decide whether or not to intervene in Ottawa’s transit strike after she receives and reviews submissions from Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279’s leaders, which she expects by Tuesday.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Since public transportation is considered an esential service,could these drivers be mandated (like you've got 24hrs to report) back to work or you are fired ! Pres Regan did this with the air traffic controllers;we need
leaders with back bone and laws with some bite. As it is ,"the lunatics are running the
asylum.