Drive Test strike frustrates many

LABOUR

Posted By COURTNEY WHALEN, THE PACKET AND TIMES

Posted 3 months ago

The stories of inconvenience resulting from the ongoing strike of DriveTest driving examiners are starting to surface and Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop is going to try to garner some political attention to the issue.

"I'm going to try and read a statement into the legislature next week," Dunlop said yesterday.

He was at the Orillia DriveTest location earlier this week speaking to some of the six local workers affected by the strike that began on Aug. 21. He said he's also getting calls from people starting to feel the effects of not being able to take driving tests, including a Georgian College student who relies on a car for transportation and a man who went out of province on vacation but was unable to rent a car because his licence had expired.

"It's basically a deadlock," Dunlop said of the negotiations between Serco DES Inc. and United Steelworkers local 9511, which represents the DriveTest workers affected by the strike. "It's pretty pathetic because nobody's doing anything."' Serco DES Inc. operates DriveTest centres throughout the province as part of a 10-year $114 million contract with the province.

Paul Dalglish, managing director of DriveTest Ontario, said the two sides were at the negotiating table last Thursday and Saturday under the guidance of a new government-appointed mediator.

"We are now both working on our positions and agreed-upon items away from the table. I expect we will return to the table before long," he said.

Last week, breaking from standard procedure, DriveTest sent a copy of their latest offer directly to employees instead of presenting it to the union's bargaining committee.

"They were feeling a bit of a void of information -- especially from us -- because we'd been respecting the bargaining process," Dalglish said of employees.

But Jim Young, president of USW local 9511, said the information posted for employees to see last Friday was a proposal, and not something concrete the members could vote on.

He said going outside the bargaining process is a tactic designed to undermine the process.

"The union and its members strongly believe the employer is trying to divide the members and the bargaining committee," he said.

The union has since been doing its own communicating with members and the "vast" majority of members expressed their confidence in the bargaining committee, Young said.

Dalglish said the process has been frustrating since the union has introduced at least 10 new demands beyond what it was originally asking for.

No further talks have been scheduled, but the union hopes a deal can be reached soon, Young said.

But while the two sides have been unable to come to an agreement, the repercussions of the strike are being felt across the province, including commercial training academies.

"We're very frustrated. We don't know what we can do," said Gus Rahim, president of the Truck Training Schools Association of Ontario and president of Ontario Truck Driving School.

"If this drags on long enough, every school in Ontario will go under," he said.

With testing unavailable, many students are in limbo, he said. Some of those who are taking courses with the help of Second Career funding are seeing that funding come to an end with no way for them to complete their training and get work.

But while the strike has put some things on hold, other constants are adding to the stress of business operators.

"Things don't get put on hold in terms of expenses. The expenses come in," Rahim said.

The government line that the dispute is between a private operator and the union isn't convincing many in his industry, he added.

"How can they not do something?" he said. "When we get to this stage and we start to see our business being eroded... instructors being laid off and students that can't graduate."

October is usually one of Crossroads Truck Training Academy of Barrie's busiest months. Not this year.

"I have no new students," said Diane Austin, office administrator at Crossroads. "If the government doesn't think it's affecting enough people, then they're wrong."

Not only is the strike affecting the picketing workers and those waiting to get their licence, but also drivers who can't drive out of province with expired licenses, companies who use truck drivers and many other residual businesses, she said.

The cry for a resolution to the strike is growing, including for the provincial government to get involved.

Dunlop said he thinks the government needs to step in, but noted the DriveTest strike and its effects haven't garnered much attention in the legislature.

"This company was under contract to provide a service to the people of Ontario," he said. "So now that service isn't being provided. I think the government needs to do something to provide that service to the citizens."