Beyond coaxing the frozen fleet back to life and convincing riders they can one day greet bus drivers with a smile, the central parties in this winter’s gruelling transit strike will have another mammoth task ahead.
The city and the union will soon give evidence to a federally-appointed arbitrator whose judgment will dictate the terms of the union’s new contract. According to some arbitration experts, the union may be in a good position to get what they want.
The Ministry of Labour appointed Brian Keller, former vice-chair of the Canada Labour Relations Board, to act as arbitrator. Keller will use information provided by both sides on issues like contracts for maintenance work, overtime and scheduling.
Like a judge, the arbitrator will then make a decision, which will be the basis for a new contract for the transit union.
"Arbitration is useful in the right hands,” says Martin Teplitsky, a Toronto lawyer who has 25 years of arbitration experience.
Robin West, director of the Canadian Council for the Amalgamated Transit Union, worked as a bus driver for 30 years in Halifax and acted as chief negotiator for his union. He says some issues on the table in Ottawa's case, like scheduling, have widespread precedents that agree with the union's point of view.
As it stands, OC Transpo drivers working a split shift are paid for eight hours over a 12-hour period. They generally work about four hours in the morning then four hours in the afternoon and evening. Those are peak times for transit use that require more buses and more drivers. West said Ottawa city management wanted to increase the work period to 13 and a half hours.
"That's not the norm. Forcing somebody to go to a 13 and a half hour spread for eight hours pay is just not acceptable to transit properties across the country."
Of the roughly 31 public transportation systems that the Amalgamated Transit Union represents across Canada, including North Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, there is only one property with a work period longer than 12 hours. That city is Toronto, with a period of 12 and a half hours.
West said there are also precedents for workers to choose routes in order of seniority. This is the system which is reportedly under dispute in Ottawa.
“I always picked my work based on what was available to me at the time or based on my family life," West says.
"But I could only pick from what the employer had put together and what was left for me based on seniority. And that’s what Ottawa does as well . . . To my knowledge, it’s what every transit property across the country does.”
Adam Giambrone, chair of the Toronto Transit Commission, says that's also the case in his city.
The arbitrator’s report, and a new contract for the transit union, will be released this summer at the earliest.
The transit union has been without a formal contract since the end of March 2008.