Brampton transit riders won’t be forced to find alternatives: tentative agreement averts strike

After weeks of tension between transit employees and the City of Brampton, prompting 99 percent of workers to vote in favour of a strike, the union and municipality have reached a deal on a new contract that averts commuter chaos across the city. 

Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1573, which represents 1,400 employees, and the City ratified two collective agreements for part-time and full-time bargaining units. With the looming strike threat over, workers and transit users have the security of a new agreement in effect until June 2027 with the provisional ratification at Brampton Council's meeting today, May 21. 

Last month, Brampton Transit union members rejected the City's previous contract offer, accusing management of “bad faith bargaining” after City officials walked back a previous wage offer. 

Then on May 16, the union issued a press release, announcing a deal had been reached that secures wage improvements, new benefit commitments and better working conditions in line with other transit systems across the GTA.

“This is a victory built on unity and resilience,” Ken Wilson, the ATU International Vice President, said.

“Our members stood strong through the tough negotiations, and their solidarity sent a clear message: we will not settle for less than we deserve. This contract reflects our members’ unwavering commitment to improving conditions for themselves and future transit workers.”

The strike mandate was first given in March when both sides failed to reach a deal. In late April, after two days of failed talks, the ATU members once again voted in favour of a strike. 

Andrew Salabie, President of ATU Local 1573, told The Pointer at the time that, "We need the employer to see us where we are." 

Council members approved the deal during the in-camera portion of their committee of council meeting Wednesday, May 21 (the City’s clerk confirmed during the open public session of Wednesday’s meeting that a council vote approved the contract in camera; a formal procedural vote will be taken at the next full council meeting technically finalizing the deal). 

Prior to the meeting Salabie declined to comment on the specifics. He said his fellow union members supported the agreement and their vote sealed the deal.

"Overall reaction is positive. The membership voted three-quarters in favour," he said. "Everybody's happy. It appears that the deal is fair at this time, and that's all I can really say (until after the contract is formally official)."

Andrew Salabie, the President of ATU Local 1573 spoke with The Pointer and expressed hope that the contract ratification process would be approved at the Brampton council meeting Wednesday.

(Supplied)

Although the service stoppage has been prevented, the city’s transit system, which has experienced steep increases in demand from residents, has never been prioritized by Mayor Patrick Brown since he took office in 2018. This has not stopped him from publicly misleading residents, claiming, for example, that he has made Brampton the municipal leader in transit electrification: he has failed to purchase non-diesel buses since becoming mayor and has pointed to a federal pilot program initiated before he became mayor, which sent a handful of electric buses paid for by Ottawa, to justify his blatant misrepresentation of the facts. Brampton’s transit electrification performance remains among the worst cities in Canada and last year a sobering presentation by transit consultancy CUTRIC (the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium) informed Brown and the council members under his control that they will need $9 billion to transition the city’s transit fleet to green buses, after the mayor ignored the responsibility to reduce emissions for years. 

CUTRIC President Josipa Petrunic was hired by Brampton Transit officials to do an analysis of the system. In June, she gave Brown and the other council members a blunt assessment of the solutions to the city’s failure to innovate its transit operation: “They're big, they're expensive. They're complicated, but they have to be done.”

Like his silence after that presentation last year, Brown was not present at Wednesday’s committee of council meeting when the new transit contract with workers was approved.

He has failed to purchase new buses to meet emission reduction targets, major projects have been cancelled or repeatedly postponed under Brown’s refusal to expand critical areas of the City budget, resulting in overcrowded buses, poor service and underinvestment in the strained transit system. It has led to a daily barrage of complaints on social media.

Social media has been flooded with posts complaining about Brampton Transit.

(X)

During the decade leading up to the pandemic, from 2009 to 2019, transit use increased 160 percent, with a 38 percent increase in just three years (2016-2019). In 2023 alone, approximately 41 million people relied on Brampton Transit, an increase of 31 percent from 2022 as the system continued to recover from the pandemic. The City of Brampton’s data show transit ridership in 2024 was more than 40 percent higher compared to pre-pandemic levels.

While a new contract has been approved with transit workers, questions are mounting about a new agreement signed quietly between the City of Brampton and a private transit operator. 

While transit workers were threatening to hit the picket lines, Brown and other members of council approved a $10.9 million contract with a company called Argo to run on-demand buses for 12 months. The public was not consulted about the use of their tax dollars for the deal, there was no staff report detailing the process or the steps that led to the surprise deal and transit staff have told The Pointer they were blindsided by Brown’s sudden move.

Salabie told The Pointer on May 6 that he was surprised when he learned about the program.

"From the union's perspective, the timing, obviously, is not ideal," he said. "It was definitely a shock when it was brought forward at the negotiation table and then when we saw the media release."

On Wednesday, Salabie urged Brampton officials to support Brampton Transit by serving riders with badly needed infrastructure and new buses (the lack of a long-delayed third maintenance and storage facility has been a bottleneck, while Brown has failed to budget for buses with new technology as the city falls further behind others that have already greened their fleets).

"My expectation is that council approves this tentative agreement on their end and then continues to make waves towards making transit better for the citizens of Brampton: following through with that third facility and all the new transit infrastructure-related changes, such as newer buses, increasing the hiring of staff so that we can continue to support our growing community, and continuing to keep lines of communication open so that we can collaboratively expand in the city of Brampton and grow and serve the members of the public."

Email: [email protected]

At a time when vital public information is needed by everyone, The Pointer has taken down our paywall on all stories to ensure every resident of Brampton, Mississauga and Niagara has access to the facts. For those who are able, we encourage you to consider a subscription. This will help us report on important public interest issues the community needs to know about now more than ever. You can register for a 30-day free trial HERE. Thereafter, The Pointer will charge $10 a month and you can cancel any time right on the website. Thank you