By François Biber

UPDATE: Sasktoon city council lifts transit lockout

Oct 19, 2014 | 9:06 AM

Less than 48 hours after issuing the transit union a second lockout notice, Saskatoon city council ordered an end to the transit lockout Saturday night and they announced bus service for the rest of October will be free for everyone.

“We have 105 buses prepared and ready to go, what we require now are the operators to put on those buses,” Mayor Don Atchison said. “Monday first thing is when we want to have the buses up and running again.”

“Service will resume on Monday morning, transit will be free, that’s free for all users and that’s for the month of October until Oct. 31, end of business day.”

The announcement came a few hours after the mayor and city councillors called an emergency executive committee meeting Saturday afternoon to discuss the second lockout notice the City of Saskatoon handed the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 615 on Friday.

Atchison said at the emergency meeting, council voted not to proceed with the second lockout.

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“Since the labour relations board ruling on Friday we have learned about other legal challenges before the board – those challenges have led to a lot of uncertainty and concern about the process at the board,” Atchison said, adding council received advice from lawyers that the second lockout, if enforced, may also be illegal because of matter pending before the labour board.

ATU president Jim Yakubowski told News Talk he’s very happy with city council’s decision.

“We’ve stated all along we’re ready to come back. The minute the labour board ruling came down on Friday we were in a position to be prepared to come back to work,” Yakubowski said.

Atchison said the decision to end the lockout hinges on a verbal agreement between the city and the transit union.

“What we heard from the lawyer of ATU is that they would not strike – so I think we have some assurance that when it’s 40 below that our ridership will still be able to get on a bus,” Atchison said.

Yakubowski said he plans to stay true to his promise not to strike.

“We’ve maintained all along that ATU will comply with the law — and the law is if you have issues before the labour board pending, neither party is in a legal position to enact any form of action,” he said. 
 
The city’s general manager of transportation and utilities, Jeff Jorgenson said a meeting between the city and the ATU set for Sunday will be the first chance for both sides to figure out how to get buses back on the road carrying passengers.

“ATU’s message to us is that they’re ready to come back to work and that’s been loud and clear, and now that we have direction from council not to execute the lockout. We know buses will be running on Monday and we’re getting ready for that tonight,” Jorgenson said.

He added revenue the city would have collected over the free-service period is about $450,000. During the 11 days of free service, transit workers will be paid.

Atchison said the city is pursuing a different ruling to the labour board’s decision on Friday –where the labour board ruled the 26-day transit lockout initiated on Sept. 20 was illegal. 

– With files from News Talk’s Kurtis Doering

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