After an announcement from the City of Winnipeg, affecting the vacation and seniority of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) workers, the ATU has released their own statement.

The City of Winnipeg and the ATU have been without a contract since January.

The City has taken measures to not allow bus operators to request trade or vacation switches for the remainder of the year. The City says they hope these amendments will bring about the end of negotiations.

In response, the ATU says, "The ATU strongly condemns the latest intimidation tactic by the City of Winnipeg. Earlier today, the City served notice that they intend to eliminate several sections of the ATU collective agreement, including the deletion of seniority for operators and maintenance workers signing up for work.

"The City is unilaterally changing the daily work schedules of our members, many of whom pick their schedules based on family, educational and childcare obligations."

In previous statements from ATU staff and President, Aleem Chaudhary, they have said they would not strike, "unless we literally had to."

"The ATU 1505 has consistently pledged to work through outstanding issues with the City in order to avoid any disruption to transit riders," says the ATU.

Union members have been asking for better working conditions and a different scheduling system, with the City also bringing up the issue of raising wages. The City of Winnipeg has said they appear to be at an impasse.

The ATU says, "The City of Winnipeg has a choice in this matter. Either they can continue to undermine negotiations, or they can recognize the fundamental problems that plague Winnipeg Transit and work with the ATU to fix our broken transit system."