Liberal Leader Stephen
McNeil is calling on the premier’s office to offer whatever resources or
support it can to bring Metro Transit and the Amalgamated Transit Union back to the table.

McNeil could not point to specific measures he thinks Premier Darrell Dexter should take, but said the premier should be contracting both sides and urging them to resume
negotiations.

“While the strike itself and the union may be a municipal union, this is having an impact on and will have an impact on the provincial economy,”
McNeil said on Sunday.

“They obviously have arbitrators, conciliators through the Department of Labour, there’s resources there. They can offer whatever is required to get them back to the table so we can find a negotiated settlement.”

Talks between Metro Transit and the ATU Local 508 broke down early Thursday morning ‘ after a provincial conciliator was unable to broker a deal between the two sides.

Dexter said on Thursday he won’t be wading into municipal waters.

“I’m not going to wander into the labour situation in the city. I think that’s up to them,” Dexter told reporters then.

“I’d like to see them try and resolve it as quickly as possible. These things are very difficult. They’re difficult on the people who work there, they’re certainly difficult on … the people who are on the buses.”