Bombardier Transportation workers who run and service GO Transit commuter trains have ratified a new contract that gives them a more than 12-per-cent wage hike and commits to 65 new jobs.
The Teamsters Canada union said Tuesday the 350 workers ratified a new contract last week after 20 months of bargaining that began in the fall of 2012.
The new three-year deal expires at the end of 2017 and will increase wages by 12.33 per cent over that period. The union said the deal also expands other benefits, reduces outsourcing and commits the company to add 65 new jobs from the expansion of the Pearson Express shuttle service from Union Station.
"The negotiation was far from easy, but we absolutely wanted to avoid any interruption of service for the users while negotiating a contract that was fair for the workers," said George MacPherson, general chairman for Division 660 of Teamsters Canada at Bombardier.
The deal also contained other improvements – to annual vacation and rain maintenance and a commitment by the company to phase out contracting work as well as the new jobs.
"Expansion of service to commuter rail is considerable and the creation of good paying, unionized jobs is a positive development for the Ontario workers," MacPherson added in a statement.
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The union represents about 350 shop trade workers, crew dispatchers and on-board operating crews on the Go Transit trains. GO Transit is a government-owned commuter network that links Toronto and surrounding communities to other parts of southern and central Ontario.
GO Transit is growing its operations over the next several years as the ruling Liberals put more money into expanding and upgrading the service to new communities to ease traffic gridlock in fast-growing parts of the GTA, Hamilton and other areas.
The workers are employed by Bombardier Canada Inc., a unit of Montreal-based aircraft and rail giant Bombardier Inc., one of Canada's biggest industrial companies.
The new Teamsters contract comes as about 900 workers from the Unifor union who build GO Transit trains and Toronto Transit Commission streetcars in Thunder Bay enter their second month of striking at the plant.
The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference represents more than 10,000 workers in the transportation industry. The group is part of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, with 1.4 million members in North America, including 115,000 in Canada.
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Bombardier workers ratify new deal with GO Transit

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