City of Belleville comes to agreement with transit union

By James Tubb

BELLEVILLE – Transit workers and riders in Belleville can ride easy for another year.

Belleville City council  has approved the renewal of a collective agreement with Unifor Local 1839, the union which represents approximately 30 Belleville city transit workers.

QNet News spoke to Mayor Mitch Panciuk on Wednesday about the new agreement and if it would impact the service provided to Belleville residents.

“There will be no change to the operation as the service is still essential,” Panciuk said.

In a news release, the city says the former collective agreement with the union expired on March 31, 2020. The two sides eventually reached the tentative agreement to renew the agreement on Dec. 21.

The membership voted to accept the agreement on Dec. 29.

The new agreement is for a one-year term extending from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

Transit | On Monday, Council gave formal consent to the renewal collective agreement with Unifor Local 1839 which represents approximately 30 City transit workers. The new agreement is for a 1 year term extending from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 ➡ https://t.co/OFftG7z7Qg pic.twitter.com/KeppCoU82G

— City of Belleville (@BellevilleON) January 13, 2021

There is no pay raise for the workers in the new agreement, but it also means there will be no layoffs either.

“We recognized the stress of the members and we moved to make this agreement with transit,” Panciuk said.

He also said that the city was proud of the relations that they have had with all of their workers throughout the pandemic.

“We have worked hard on our relationship with all of our city employees and that is reflected in this agreement,” Panciuk said.

There were no further changes to the collective agreement that predated this one.