A telephone poll of 2,107 residents of York Region on November 3 showed that 71 per cent wanted the Regional government to intervene in the nearly 3-week old bus strike at Viva, Miller and First Student. Only 12 per cent said the Region should not intervene and 17 per cent were undecided. View poll results.
The union has written to York Regional Chairman Bill Fisch saying that they will agree to arbitration and end the strike immediately if the companies also agree in writing to submit the dispute to neutral arbitrators.
“The gap between the union and the YRT contractors is too great. There is no resolution in sight. In such circumstances, arbitration is the way to go. It's a fair process and it will end the strike,” wrote Ray Doyle, President of ATU Local 1587, which represents the Miller and First Student workers, and Bob Kinnear, President of ATU Local 113, which represents the VIVA workers. Read letter.
The union also took out full page ads in two York Region newspapers today, to publicize the poll and the letter to Fisch. View Ad.
“We are ready to end the strike today,” says Doyle. “Chairman Fisch should call the bus companies and demand that they go to arbitration. It’s a fair process and there is no law that prevents him from making that request.”