City council strikes peace deals with unions in mayor's absence

Rob Snow
Thursday, May 28, 2009

The City of Ottawa has finally made peace with ATU Local 279.

After a bitter, mid-winter 53 day strike by 2,300 OC Transpo drivers and mechanics, city councillors this week passed a motion ensuring it will never happen again.

The agreement between the city and the ATU, that all future disagreements will settled by an arbitrator, is the second significant peace deal between council and organized labour in the absence of Mayor Larry O'Brien.

O'Brien has taken an unpaid leave of absence while he stands trial, accused of influence peddling.

In O'Brien's absence, city council not only engineered a three year deal with its biggest union, CUPE Local 503, but now it has found middle ground with ATU Local 279, just months after the longest transit strike in the city's history.

For a city council frequently searching for consensus, it found it in OC Tranpso.

A motion to send all collective bargaining disagreements to an arbitrator breezed through council, without a single "no" vote.

Acting Mayor, Beacon Hill-Cyrville Ward Councillor, Michel Bellemare said the city is seeking "a more harmonious tone" in labour relations.

"We want to work with our unions. Ninety per cent of our city's workforce is unionized.", Bellemare said.

Speaking about the city's recent deal with CUPE Local 503, Bellmare noted the city came to terms without arbitration.

"That was an agreement that was arrived at through settlement. We did not need to go all the way to mediation or arbitration. We're working hard to rebuild excellent relations with our unions. I think you're seeing the fruit of this," he said.

Speaking about the city's agreement with the transit union, Knoxdale-Merivale Councillor Gord Hunter called the settlement "progressive" and praised the union leadership.

"To have the union come forward and suggest 'if you put this forward to council, we'll put it forward to our membership', I don't imagine there are too many bus riders in the city that would object to the decision council made."

Kitchissippi Ward Councillor Christine Leadman said "this is where we ended up anyway. We're at arbitration. There was nothing gained, other than a loss of service for 50-some days."

The OC Transpo strike lasted nearly two months. Employees walked off the job a few weeks before Christmas. The labour stoppage is estimated to have cost the city $3,000,000 per day.

For some councillors, like Kanata-South's Peggy Feltmate, the prospect of another transit had to be taken off the table. "It cost a lot of people, personally. People that ride the bus and people that don't ride the bus. Lost time, the emotional toll that it took on people. It was all very difficult."