Buses in York Region remained idle on Wednesday as the strike by bus drivers and mechanics stretched into its third day.
About 560 drivers and mechanics from York Region Transit and Viva remain off the job, affecting more than 44,000 passengers a day.
There has been no word from the unions or the private contractors who run the buses on the possibility of returning to the bargaining table, but a mass rally has been planned at the regional government headquarters on Yonge Street in Newmarket.
The rally, the first public event staged by the union since the beginning of the labour dispute, is set for Thursday morning at 10:30 a.m.
"We are coming to the region of York headquarters to make our point that this strike is a problem that must be addressed by the politicians who caused it through privatization of what should be a publicly owned and operated service," Bob Kinnear, president of ATU Local 113 said in a statement released on Wednesday.
The union says that wages are the main issue in the strike and that York Region bus drivers are among the lowest paid in the Greater Toronto Area.
"They must have imagined they were going to save money because the private carriers would be cheaper," Kinnear said. "But the exact opposite happened. York Region taxpayers pay the highest transit subsidies in the GTA and have the highest fares."
President of Local 1587 Ray Doyle said that the strike could be a lengthy one.
"The members are very determined to stick this one out," he said. "They are tired of being treated as second-class workers, when, in fact, they provide York Region passengers with a first-class service."
About 60 per cent of the transit system in York Region is affected, mainly in Markham, Richmond Hill, Newmarket and Aurora.
Fifty-one routes operated by Miller Transit are cancelled, while 29 northern York Region routes operated by First Canada Transit are also not running.
The region's previous strike was in 2008 and was two weeks in duration. It was resolved when Viva drivers accepted the same contract that sent them to the picket lines in the first place.
With files from The Canadian Press
