TORONTO — Metrolinx says GO buses were not stopping at or departing from Toronto's Union Station Sunday due to an ongoing strike action.
Ninety-five workers with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers walked off the job on Wednesday after the union and Toronto Terminals Railway failed to reach an agreement.
The workers, who are signals and communication workers as well as train movement directors at Canada's busiest transit hub, have been on strike ever since.
Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins says the union members have been demonstrating in front of the Union Station bus terminal on and off this weekend, blocking GO buses from entering and exiting.
In response, she says Metrolinx has put a plan in place "for the time being" in which numerous GO bus routes are being re-routed to other transit stations.
This includes route 21 and 31 buses, which will begin and end their trips at the Port Credit GO station -- instead of at Union Station -- with passengers being told they can use the Lakeshore West line from Union Station to connect at Port Credit GO.
Aikins says about 200 buses are currently impacted by the strike action, affecting thousands of customers.
In a tweet, the local branch of the IBEW says the union would "love to be back at the bargaining table" and accused Metrolinx of supporting TTR with workers who crossed the picket line.
The union has said its Union Station employees "eagerly await a worthwhile negotiated settlement" so they can return to their positions and continue to operate GO trains, VIA Rail trains and the Union Pearson Express every day.
The workers have been without a new contract since December 2019.
TTR has said that increased wage demands from the union are at the heart of the matter.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2022.
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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
The Canadian Press
