The union representing more than 1,500 GO Transit workers announced a strike deadline of 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 24, ATU Local 1587 union president Ray Doyle confirmed on Wednesday afternoon.
A strike would affect GO bus passengers, as well as those who use York Region Transit (YRT).
The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1587 also represents workers who operate and maintain YRT buses for Miller Transit and First Student Canada. Miller Transit operates buses on 51 routes in Markham, Richmond Hill, Whitchurch-Stouffville and parts of Vaughan that handle 16,000 daily rides.
"Right at the moment, I have negotiation dates set with Metrolinx, First Student [Canada] and Miller Transit. I've had very high strike mandates from each of those groups," Doyle told CityNews.ca earlier.
Doyle said the public will have "ample" notice before employees walk off the job. Last year, GO Transit carried about 57 million passengers between Toronto and outlying areas like Peterborough, Kitchener, Niagara Falls and Barrie. On a typical weekday, GO buses alone transport 37,000 riders.
"The issue with Metrolinx is that we had an essential services agreement (ESA) we agreed to in March,” he said. “On August 30, Metrolinx cancelled two negotiations dates we had set up for September. On September 6, they no longer agreed to ESA. Everybody knows it was politically motivated — to prevent us from striking during the election campaign."
The Ontario Labour Board (OLB) ruled Tuesday the union has a legal strike agreement with Metrolinx.
Negotiations had stalled after Metrolinx applied to the OLB to have some workers declared essential in the case of a strike.
The OLB ruled Tuesday that an essential services agreement between the union and GO Transit management from March 11 was still valid. That agreement said no members of the unit were essential, and therefore they all could strike.
Wages are the main sticking point in negotiations. The ATU Local 1587 claims GO will only offer its workers an increase if it comes out of existing benefit costs. Otherwise, GO has offered no wage increase over the next two years.
Ninety-five per cent of workers who participated in a strike vote in August cast a ballot in favour of job action. However, a strike was not called at the time because Metrolinx applied to the OLB to have some workers declared essential, stalling negotiations.