A construction company contracted to complete maintenance work along parts of Highway 401 briefly slowed down traffic on the highway Wednesday as part of an employee-led protest over labour issues.
Crews with the Miller Group began conducting pothole repair in the eastbound collector lanes of the highway near Keele Street at around noon, blocking about two lanes of traffic in the process.
According to a source, the work is usually conducted at night when traffic is lighter but was moved up to the afternoon amid a dispute with the Ministry of Transportation.
The source says that MTO officials have made unreasonable demands concerning the repair of potholes and recently ordered the company to work during heavy rainfall, which would have created safety issues for workers.
In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, however, MTO spokesperson Astrid Poei said the slowdown “was the action of an individual employee” and not a larger group.
Poei said that the contractor “will deal with the matter internally and take appropriate action.”
“We understand that an employee of the area maintenance contractor spoke with the media off-camera about today’s lane closure, suggesting it was a protest. MTO spoke with the contractor management team, who said the full lane closure was the action of an individual employee and not the action of the organization,” she said. “We apologize for any inconvenience drivers may have experience during this short situation.”
The pothole repair work was completed within about 30 minutes, at which point traffic was able to resume flowing at its normal rate.
