Guelph’s buses ran their regular routes Monday – something which no doubt came as a surprise to those who were expecting to wake up to the imposition of a lockout on 200-plus Guelph Transit employees.
Instead, a deal was struck less than an hour before the planned 12:01 a.m. lockout.
The service disruption was expected as a result of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1189 overwhelmingly voting against what the city had termed its final offer.
At a Saturday morning press conference, Mayor Karen Farbridge and other city officials – after they moved away from the shouts of ATU members – announced plans for the lockout.
Monday, Farbridge credited the lockout announcement as pivoting things back to the point where the two sides could hammer out an acceptable accord.
“Very quickly, conversations opened up to bring us back to the table,” she said.
After meeting for more than 12 hours on Sunday, the city and the union reached a deal.
“I appreciate ATU … rolling up their sleeves and making it work,” Farbridge said.
“I know that this caused a lot of stress for riders. For that, we certainly apologize.”
ATU Local 1189 president Andrew Cleary said he was particularly happy to see a deal reached without disrupting transit service.
“We are very pleased to be out here serving the community, like we do every day,” he said.
“We were ready to drive the buses until we had a fair and equitable deal.”
Details of the accord are expected to be released after both parties have ratified the agreement.
City councillors were set to vote on the agreement Monday night, with the ATU ratification vote taking place next Sunday.
