City of Guelph final offer to Guelph Transit employees

Press release.

The City of Guelph is sharing details of its final offer to Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1189 to ensure that ATU members, transit riders and Guelph taxpayers have an accurate understanding of the City’s position.

Members of ATU Local 1189 are voting Friday, July 11 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on whether to accept or reject the City’s final offer.

“Sensational and inaccurate comments made by ATU’s president without context are simply a common tactic used to divert the attention of the public and union members from the details of what is, in reality, a fair and equitable offer,” said executive director of Corporate and Human Resources, Mark Amorosi. “Based on recent comments made in the media by ATU’s president, the City believes that the public and our employees have a right to know the facts and critical details of the City’s offer.”

Key details of the City of Guelph’s offer to ATU Local 1189:

·Wage increases of:

o July 1, 2013: 1.7% increase

o July 1, 2014: 1.6% increase

o July 1, 2015: 1.6% increase

o July 1, 2016: 1.5% increase ·

No impact to employee health and medical benefits

After 22 days of negotiations ATU has yet to provide their wage and benefit requests.

The City’s offer is consistent with, and in some cases provides higher wage increases than, recent agreements reached between Ontario municipalities and their transit unions including Grand River, London and Sudbury.

“We encourage our transit union members to read the final offer for themselves and come to their own conclusions,” continued Amorosi. “We value the contribution of our transit employees to an important City operation and hope to avoid any service disruption.”

The City will continue posting negotiation updates at guelph.ca/atu.