transit windsor union alleges unfair labour practices in fight to save tunnel bus
the union representing transit windsor workers says it ...
4 minute read
we apologize, but this video has failed to load.
try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
the union representing transit windsor workers says it plans to file unfair labour practice charges against the city following what it calls mayor drew dilkens’ “opportunistic move” to kill the tunnel bus amid rising trade tensions between the u.s. and canada.
amalgamated transit union local 616 alleges that killing the windsor-detroit tunnel bus — and the 10 federally mandated sick days that go with it — flouts a collective agreement signed a year ago.
“for more than a year, mayor dilkens has been trying to find a way to strip these federally mandated sick days from our hard-working members,” manny sforza, atu’s international vice-president, said in a statement.
“it is sickening and truly disheartening for him to manipulate this current international crisis to meet his own political agenda.”
the union said wednesday it is taking a complaint to the canadian industrial relations board after dilkens vetoed a council decision to save the money-losing tunnel bus.
with a friday deadline for council to overturn the veto quickly approaching, the union said it is “relying on the decency and integrity of city council to stand by the collective agreement.”
“there is no unfair labour practice here,” dilkens told the star later on wednesday.
advertisement
“the allegation that me exercising my veto, which is a provision under law, is somehow an unfair labour practice — the unions should respectfully seek legal counsel before proceeding and save themselves a lot of money,” he said.
city council is scheduled to meet virtually on friday morning to discuss the mayor’s veto.
“at the end of the day, there’s a democratic process that has been established in laws,” said dilkens. “we’re going through that process, and on friday, we’ll have certainty one way or the other with respect to the vote on the veto.
“the budget of the city of windsor for 2025 will be officially set this friday.”
transit windsor bus driver cliff pryszlak drives through the windsor-detroit tunnel on feb. 8, 2025, carrying passengers to downtown detroit.
dan janisse
/
windsor star
changes to canada’s labour code in 2022 granted federally regulated employees 10 days of paid medical leave per year on top of existing benefits. since some transit windsor drivers cross the international border with the tunnel bus, all of the organization’s roughly 300 employees fall under the federal labour law.
the union said it helped offset costs for the sick days with cuts and concessions during more than four months of “unnecessarily painfully and expensively extended” negotiations. the union has not provided details of those concessions.
“we came to the bargaining table to secure a fair and reasonable contract for our members, and we fought to make sure that ridership and the public did not have any service interruptions,” said dragan markovic, president of atu local 616. “after months of hard negotiations, and with many cuts, we believed we had done just that.
advertisement
“we had a deal, and to go backwards now is not only an insult but is unacceptable.”
dilkens said the possibility that the tunnel bus might meet its end came up during negotiations.
“i get the union just wants to keep the 10 free sick days a year,” he said. “i get it. it’s not lost on me that’s a net benefit to them. in fact, what they’re not telling you is that during their negotiations, the parties acknowledged that the tunnel bus service may actually go away, and they negotiated something in the event that it does.”
dilkens said if the tunnel bus ends, the collective agreement dictates that transit windsor members will receive two additional days of time off, on top of the already existing six personal days.
those personal days are separate from the pre-existing short-term disability program, which pays 75 per cent of wages and requires waiting periods.
the city has said the 10 extra federal sick days means the tunnel bus, which previously broke even, now costs $1.4 million a year. but dilkens said wednesday it’s actually about $1.6 million.
“council has to wrestle with that, because it’s not about providing service at any cost,” the mayor said.
dilkens noted that windsor does not pay for transit service to any other city. he said the buses that go through essex county are paid for by those municipalities.
advertisement
“that is a fully funded service,” he said. “so it’s rich to think that city of windsor taxpayers should fund a tunnel bus service to a different country. we don’t even provide it out to an industrial park in lakeshore to take people to work, because it’s two municipalities away and that town refuses to fund it.”
citing the 10 federal sick days, dilkens tabled a proposed budget in january that included elimination of the subsidized tunnel service as a cost-saving measure.
on jan. 27, city council voted 7-4 against dilkens’ budget proposal to kill the international service. the mayor immediately suggested he would veto the vote.
on feb. 3, two days after u.s. president donald trump signed an executive order to hit canada with 25 per cent trade tariffs, dilkens vetoed council’s vote to keep the bus.
it was dilkens’ first-ever veto under ontario’s strong mayor legislation to override a council majority decision. under that legislation, overturning a mayoral veto requires an 8-3 council vote.
local 616 said wednesday that despite the tariff reprieve negotiated by prime minister justin trudeau and the wishes of city council, dilkens “seems relentless in his efforts, especially to make this an opportunistic move now.
advertisement
“amalgamated transit union local 616 will be filing unfair labour practice charges against transit windsor, the city of windsor, after the strong and publicly conservative mayor has vetoed the democratic vote of city council, relating to the nearly century-old operation of bus services at an international border crossing,” the union stated.
share story
