ATU Local 113 Welcomes You

Thanks for visiting our site. Local 113 of the Amalgamated Transit Union was founded in Toronto in 1899 by a handful of employees of a small, privately-owned transit service. We now represent about 10,000 workers at the Toronto Transit Commission, North America’s third-largest public transit system. We also represent workers at Veolia Transportation in York Region, just north of Toronto. We’re proud of our members and the work they do that benefits public transit users, the economy of Canada’s largest city and, of course, our environment.

Viva workers jubilant as Bob Kinnear announces offer rejected by 75%

After more than 12 weeks on strike, Viva members of Local 113 have rejected the latest offer from their employer, Veolia, in a labour board-supervised vote. The room filled with strikers erupted into cheers as Local 113 President Bob Kinnear read out the results of the vote. Of 177 voters, 133 voted to reject.

“Bill Fisch can no longer perpetuate the myth this is union driven or leadership driven,” Kinnear said. “These members individually voted and their decision was their own, not that of the union leadership. They refuse to continue to be treated as second-class citizens.”

Kinnear said that the union has put the labour board on notice that it will file a unfair labour practices complaint against the Region for interfering with the vote by announcing the day before the vote that it is dumping First Student, where 92 workers of ATU Local 1587 have also been on strike.

“Bill Fisch won’t get his head out of his ass and deal with the real issues.” Kinnear said.

“We are more than willing to return to the bargaining table but we repeat our offer to end the strike immediately through arbitration.

Striking Viva members are upbeat despite nine weeks 0ff the job

It was standing room only this morning at the Monte Carlo Inn in Vaughan as virtually all 220 members of ATU Local 113 on strike against Viva met to consider the company’s latest proposal to end the York Region transit strike.

Shouts of “No deal! No deal!” shook the room as local president Bob Kinnear read out the company’s proposal for a four-year collective agreement with wage increases of 3%, 2%, 3.1% and 2.7%.

A motion from the floor to “not even vote on this piece of crap” was met with loud cheers and a unanimous show of hands.

“Let’s send this back to (York Regional Chairman) Fisch with our compliments of the season,” yelled out one member to general laughter. Fisch has opposed neutral arbitration as a way of ending the dispute since the union first proposed it in the second week of the strike.

The members chanted “One-One-THREE!, One-One-THREE!, One-One-THREE!,” as they left the room in a jubilant mood.

“It was an awesome display of solidarity and resolve, especially coming two days before Christmas,” said Kinnear. “All they want is a fair deal and they will settle for nothing less.”

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Court rules picketing can continue in York Region Transit strike

Picketing in the York Region transit strike will continue despite the regional government’s efforts to shut it down, according to an Ontario Superior Court of Justice order issued this morning in Newmarket.

“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has prevailed,” said Bob Kinnear.

“Despite what Chairman Bill Fisch thinks, our members have the right to peaceably assemble and publicly communicate their message through reasonable picketing and we will continue to do so.”

The order by Justice Peter Lauwers sets out a protocol that specifies 15 terminals and garages for union picketing.The Region’s attempt to stop regular YRT buses from being “occupied” by paying passengers failed.

Although the order contains a number of restrictions on picketing activities, most of these were never any problem, according to the union.

“Some degree of public inconvenience is inevitable in a transit strike but the union has been very restrained and reasonable and we will continue to be.

“We have no problem with the court order but the real issue is why this dispute is still going on when it could have been resolved two months ago through binding arbitration, were it not for Chairman Bill Fisch.

“This dispute will forever be known as the Fisch Bus Strike of 2011-12. What a legacy.”

Weekend talks to end the Viva strike broke down when management refused to respond to union compromise offer

After nearly seven weeks into the transit work stoppage in York Region, ATU Local 113 agreed to meet early Saturday morning to make a last-ditch effort to come to a settlement with Viva.

“We made the first move towards compromise, and it was a significant one,” said Local 113 president Bob Kinnear. “We ratcheted down our wage expectations in order to give the company room to pick up the full cost of our health care benefits package, but their response was very weak, amounting to a few pennies.

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