Public opinion will be a big factor in how the Metro Transit strike gets resolved, according to a Saint Mary’s University researcher.

Dr. Kevin Kelloway said that public opinion largely depends on people’s feelings toward labour unions in the first place.

“Particularly in a public sector strike, the support of the public is usually seen as a fairly major determinant of how the strike gets resolved,” he said this week.

“If you watch these man-on-the-street interviews, some people faced with the same set of circumstances, (they) attribute blame to the union for there being a strike and some attribute blame to the city for there being a strike.”

That may be why both the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 508 and Metro Transit have somewhat varied accounts of what led to the strike, now in its second week, in the first place.

“If you listen to the union, you listen to management talking, they’re not actually talking to each other, they’re talking at each other,” said Kelloway.

“You’re not going to solve a strike that way. You’ve got to get past that.”

The ATU and management met in Dartmouth Wednesday to discuss two new offers ‘ one from the union, and one “approved” by Halifax regional council. By last evening, negotiations were continuing.

But Kelloway said that, as with many strikes in Canada, the public may eventually lose patience with both sides.