GoNorthEast or GoCanada? Bus drivers travel to Toronto to lobby company owner
GoNorthEast or GoCanada? While some individuals struggle to even leave their villages and towns in the region as the bus strike continues, drivers were in Toronto to press one of the firm’s key owners for a better deal
They met officials from a union in Toronto linked to a firm which has a controlling share in the companies which run GNE’s parent, Go Ahead.
Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) said it would use its “power” to “pressure this company to treat working people decently”.
GNE said it wants to “reach a deal which is fair on all sides”.
It comes as talks between Unite the Union and the bus operator resumed this week.
About 1,300 workers from its depots in Gateshead, Sunderland, Hexham, Washington, Percy Main and Consett, walked out on 28 October, crippling regional transport infrastructure and imposing devastating economic losses on local communities.
The group that travelled to Canada was made up of two bus drivers and two union officials.
It is understood this is the first meeting of several planned with overseas firms connected to Go Ahead, unless the dispute can be resolved.
