Talk about stress.

Bus drivers Roger Whidden and Crystal Rudolph met on the job a few years ago and now walk together on the picket line.

“We have a mortgage and car payments that are going to be coming due and we’re not really sure where we’ll get the money for that, but we’re out here, fighting the good fight,” Rudolph said.

They have three kids to support and a mortgage to pay. They got paid on Thursday since their pay lags two weeks behind, with the first of the strike pay to start Feb. 24. Even then, it’s $150 a week ‘ hardly enough to pay bills.

“This morning, I tell you, it’s pretty depressing,” Whidden said.

“Today is like a punch in the stomach. We thought things were going well (Wednesday) and (negotiators) were in there doing their thing, but now it’s a whole new ballgame.”

They said they can give it another week before they need to start looking for a source of temporary income. After that, it gets “dicey,” Rudolph said.

But, couple or not, Whidden said it’s rough for everyone to face an uncertain future.

“People get on about us making so much money, but we’re just getting by, and a lot of us live paycheque to paycheque as it is,” he said. “Unless you’re 20 years old and you live at home with next to no bills, that’s the only way you have really have any money.”

They said there are plenty of cases where the striking workers are the sole earners for their household, including union president Ken Wilson.