We received the following notice early this morning.
COMMUNITY RALLY
We Support Our Transit Workers & Public Transit Services in Halifax
SUNDAY January 29th at 5:00pm
Halifax Grand Parade Square (at Halifax City Hall, between Barrington & Argyle Streets)
FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE: http://www.facebook.com/events/336419333058781/
Workers at Halifax Metro Transit, members of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 508, are being pushed into a strike by Mayor Peter Kelly and the Halifax Regional Municipality. The Halifax transit workers will be in a legal strike position at 1:30am this coming Thursday, February 2nd. The workers and their union were presented with a demands list of over 250 concessions at the bargaining table, and are continuing to attempt to resolve this dispute through ongoing conciliation at this time.
Representatives from the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council, the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour and the Canadian Labour Congress met with the Executive Committee of ATU Local 508 last week to discuss ways in which the broader labour movement can provide strike support solidarity both prior to and during a potential strike.
Nova Scotia Federation of Labour President Rick Clarke has written Halifax Regional Municipality Mayor Peter Kelly telling him to stop "ultimatum bargaining" with members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 508. Clarke urged the Mayor to use the remaining time left to return to the bargaining table and try a fair, equitable approach and talk about the issues. Over 95,000 transit users are depending on HRM deal with this do what is right for members of ATU Local 508 and their families. You can read the letter from Brother Clarke here: http://nsfl.ns.ca/Letter%20to%20Mayor%20Peter%20Kelly%20on%20HRM%20Transit.pdf
The Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council and ATU Local 508 have called a Community Solidarity Rally for Sunday, January 29th at 5:00 pm at Halifax Grand Parade Square (in front of Halifax City Hall). Please come stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in ATU! See below for more information on other actions that you can take to support these workers and the public transit system in Halifax. The Labour Council will also maintain information on the issue and solidarity actions on its website at http://HalifaxLabour.ca as well as on a new Facebook page in solidarity with the transit workers which can be found athttp://facebook.com/HalifaxTransitSupport
In the event of a strike at Metro Transit on Thursday February 2nd, there are two rally events which have already been called by the Labour Council for that day as follows:
We Support Our Transit Workers!
STRIKE SUPPORT for ATU Local 508
1. (Pending Strike) Thursday, February 2nd, 7:30 am, Dartmouth Bridge Terminal – Morning Solidarity Rally
2. (Pending Strike) Thursday, February 2nd, 5:00 pm, Halifax Grand Parade Square, Evening Solidarity Rally
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT THE TRANSIT WORKERS & PUBLIC TRANSIT SERVICES IN HALIFAX:
• PUT UP A POSTER in the window or door of your home and/or union office showing your support:
Posters are available at the Labour Council's website at http://HalifaxLabour.ca/, and there is a direct link for the POSTER (in colour) athttp://bit.ly/TransitSupportPoster or in black & white at http://bit.ly/TransitSupportPoster-BW
• CALL or TEXT Mayor Peter Kelly and tell him to negotiate a fair deal with the Halifax transit workers and to protect public transit:
Mayor Kelly’s Cell: 902.222.9999, Office: 902.490.4010
• You can also EMAIL Mayor Kelly at: kellyp@halifax.ca or TWEET at him on Twitter at:
@MayorPeterKelly
• CALL or EMAIL your local Halifax Regional Councilor
Look up your Councilor and their contact info at: http://www.halifax.ca/districts/index.html
• WRITE Letters to the Editor
Email the Chronicle Herald at letters@herald.ca
Letters must be no longer than 200 words.
• Stay Up-To-Date by FOLLOWING the “We Support Our Transit Workers” page on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HalifaxTransitSupport as well as checking the websites of the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council (at http://HalifaxLabour.ca) and ATU Local 508 (at http://ATU508.ca)