Back in 2o23, Local 569 of the Amalgamated Transit Union began organizing transit workers employed by Strathcona County.
The workers had previously been unionized when the County contracted out bus service to Diversified Transportation. But then they cancelled the Diversified contract to take on transit themselves.
Despite unionbusting tactics of the municipal government, a majority of the workers ultimately voted over a year ago to unionize with Local 569.
However, the employer has been dragging their feet in negotiations, and these workers still don’t have their first collective agreement, more than a year after unionizing.
As a result, the union filed with the Alberta Labour Relations Board for enhanced mediation.
Last month, the ALRB approved the workers’ request for enhanced mediation, assigning Mia Norrie of Norrie & Co. as the mediator.
The board has directed to Norrie to mediate a collective agreement; however, if she’s unsuccessful, she’s supposed to file a report to the board regarding what was resolved prior to mediation, what was resolved during mediation, what’s still outstanding, and how to address the outstanding issues.
According to the decision published by the ALRB, the board hasn’t set a deadline for the mediated contract.
