Transit company, union approve new 3-year deal in Ontario region [Video]

A new deal for bus drivers, maintenance workers and other unionized staff at Durham Regional Transit has been approved, with more than three-quarters of Unifor members, Local 222, saying yes to the three-year deal.

A statement from the union and the DRT bargaining committee said the 76 per cent approval rate shows the members’ expectations during the negotiations with the transit company “were not only met but exceeded.”

Unifor Local 222 in Oshawa represents approximately 616 members working as transit operators, maintenance workers, in dispatch and in specialized services at DRT. Members voted 98 per cent in support of taking strike action, if necessary, on May 21.

Key issues in this dispute include closing the wage gap with transit workers in surrounding GTA municipalities like Mississauga and Brampton – areas with similar growth projections – who earn up to $5 more per hour than DRT employees for doing the same …