Working for solution

Dear sir:
As president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1374, I am very concerned with the approach Greyhound had taken by serving notice to discontinue service to your and other localities in that area.
If that statement is correct, I am also somewhat amazed they did not follow procedure as required by the legislative authorities that regulate the transportation industry in the Province of Ontario.
Only they can answer as to why because they should be quite familiar with the process by now.
Our usual protocol calls for joint discussion on matters such as this between the union and the company prior to them making such a decision. Their concerns are based on costs and losses while our concern is with preserving the jobs of our union members.
We jointly share a concern to provide a satisfactory measure of service to the public, and all these variables are interdependent.
We understand the difficulties Greyhound encounters in providing a viable yet cost-effective service to many communities. Our Local 1374 covers the large geographical area between Ottawa and Vancouver. Population density and riders has a direct bearing on the amount of service provided.
Provincially-owned bus companies and most city transits receive some federal or provincial assistance to maintain their operations. Operating at a loss may be of some concern to them, but is not the deciding factor to continue with the service.
Co-operatively, the taxpayers share the cost of the subsidy and wouldn’t have it any other way in order to maintain the service.
This matter is now receiving the high-profile transparency that it should and the affected public is having their say. We will work with the company to try and reach a reasonable alternative from contracting out the service, staying consistent with the terms of our collective agreement.
Our union personnel are trained to high standards of safety and customer service, and we negotiate wages accordingly with those expectations of professional service. In return, we deliver the best product possible to the traveling public.
We will make every attempt we can to keep this work in house if at all possible.
Greyhound indirectly subsidizes service to many small communities in western Canada by incorporating service to these communities in their long haul routes. Small losses are covered by overall revenues generated from freight and passengers destined to larger locations on the overall route.
In some geographical instances, this is not feasible or possible.
Operating at a loss to provide service is simply unacceptable in any private enterprise. Deregulation of the bus industry, although encouraged by many competitors, would be fatal to the industry as a whole. Low revenue areas simply would be abandoned, just as it has occurred in the U.S.
Greyhound has a proud tradition of providing service in a regulated environment and has survived many economic difficulties in doing so. We share equal concern over the causes. Bus service is not only a tradition, it is vital to all communities whether 10 or 100 people are affected.
I think the citizens of some communities, along with voicing their disenchantment over the prospect of losing service, and rightfully so, also should be lobbying their MPs (both provincial and federal).
Together we may gain some financial assistance for maintaining, or even improving, service to some areas.
This office will work in a spirit of co-operation with the company and any level of government that may consider lending assistance in resolving this issue now and for the future.
Yours truly,
Jim Higgs
President and
Business Agent,
A.T.U. Local 1374