Halifax regional council is holding an emergency session to discuss the day-old transit strike that has left tens of thousands of people without bus or ferry service.
The city's politicians were set to meet privately at noon Thursday, less than 12 hours after Metro Transit workers walked off the job to back their contract demands.
Metro Transit says 50,000 to 55,000 people rely on the region's transit service every day.
By 6 a.m., many regular bus riders were walking across the bridge spanning Halifax harbour.
Scott Weldon got up early to park his car in Dartmouth so he could walk to his office in downtown Halifax.
"Let's settle it quick," he said of the strike. "There's really no place for me to park and it's going to get trickier as time goes on."
Gig McMullin, 62, said public transit should be an essential service.
"What is happening to all these people who need to get to work and don't have vehicles? They're stuck or could lose their jobs over this. That's the sad part," McMullin said.
For a short time it looked as if a strike could be avoided.
Metro Transit called the Amalgamated Transit Union back to the bargaining table at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, 30 minutes before the strike deadline.
Metro Transit says it presented one offer that included rostering — where shifts are scheduled in weekly blocks — and a six per cent wage hike over three years. A second offer included no rostering and a wage hike of 3.5 per cent over three years.
Union representatives walked out of the meeting less than 10 minutes later.
Ken Wilson, president of Local 508 of the ATU, said transit workers want to keep the flexibility they have now when it comes to scheduling. Currently, bus drivers can pick different shifts to make up a week, based on seniority.
"Over 80 per cent of my people are divorced. The flexibility in picking our work is what keeps people sometimes together, it's what allows a single parent to be involved in a child's life," he told CBC News.
"We've been picking our work cafeteria style for 104 years. Why all of a sudden in 2012 is it such a big issue?"
The transit service says it can save money by following a rostering system.
Earlier Thursday, Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly said he was disappointed it came to this.
"It's unfair to the riders, it's unfair to the drivers, it's unfair to the taxpayers. This should not have taken place. There's options and opportunities that they could have brought forward and they can put things on the table too. They brought nothing to the table whatsoever," Kelly said.
Wilson said Metro Transit "treats the public like trash."
"If we did this to the public, we'd be fired," he said. "The mayor, council, you're going to have one bad day."
The last strike in Halifax was in 1998.
11 comments