It remains to be seen which Bombardier plant will be involved in making 13 street cars for the Toronto Transit Commission.
The union boss for Thunder Bay’s plant, Dominic Pasqualino, points out though Toronto has ordered them, a decision has to be made where to build them, such as Thunder Bay and Kingston.
“Their line is actually set up probably closer to be building that small amount than we are, because we’ve got some things to change around here to get back into production,” says Pasqualino.
The 13 cars are part of an overall order of 60, with the union leader adding the provincial and federal governments must help ink the deal. However, the delivery involves doing the work in batches of 20. “They don’t get 20 cars, they get 13 cars because there’s so much to set up [to do]. The first cars are so much more expensive than the last cars. At the end of the day they’re hoping we get 60 cars.”
He also notes it was not really a surprise to see the deal rubberstamped.
“I think that Toronto is somewhat desperate to get these cars, that’s why they’re out there saying ‘We are committed. If we can’t get 20, we’ll take 13, but we really need 60’,” says Pasqualino.
Pasqualino also telling us the union and Bombardier have a new collective agreement, which was ratified by the members last Saturday and will ensure peace until May 2023.
