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Acadian Coach Lines could have buses crossing the border at Amherstagain within two weeks if a tentative agreement is ratified Sundayby locked-out workers in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, aunion official says. Glen Carr, president of Local 1229 of the Amalgamated TransitUnion, said Acadian"s parent company, Groupe Orleans ExpressInc. of Montreal, told him Thursday that"s the plan if thedeal is ratified. "There are no buses here in New Brunswick or inP.E.I.," Carr said in an interview from Fredericton."They"re going to have to bring the buses from whereever they are." A spokesman for the parent company couldn"t be reached forcomment. Carr wouldn"t reveal details of the agreement, reached aftera five-month lockout, but said the negotiating committee isrecommending that it be approved. Local 1229 represents 59 bus drivers, mechanics, maintenanceworkers and customer service agents in New Brunswick and PrinceEdward Island. They have been off the job for five months. The company suspended intercity bus service in the two provinces onDec. 2, the same day workers would have been in a legal strikeposition. The agreement was reached early Thursday after four consecutivedays of talks, which were held with the help of a federallyappointed mediator. Acadian continued to offer bus service within Nova Scotia butbusiness was down, said a union official in this province. "They definitely saw a decreased ridership," said ChadJohnston, national representative for Local 1725 of the CanadianAuto Workers. CAW represents about 36 drivers and customer service staff, whohave a separate contract with the company. Johnston said no unionized workers in this province were laid offduring the lockout and he"s not aware of any non-unionizedemployees being affected either. Non-unionized workers in New Brunswick were laid off as the disputedragged on, the CAW official said. While Acadian Lines ridership may have been down here, aDartmouth-based shuttle operator saw a surge in its business. PEI Express , which operates a daily Halifax-to-Charlottetown service, has beenbusier than usual over the past three months, said partner ShelleyLake Young. "We were happy to be there. It definitely gave our business agood profile boost," she said. Lake Young said April would normally be the service"s slowestmonth but not this year. "A lot of days in April, our shuttles would normally be halffull. This year, we always ran close to capacity." She said the company sometimes had enough demand to operate two orthree vans, especially on weekends or holidays, instead of a single10-passenger vehicle. ( jalberstat@herald.ca ). I am an expert from steel-wireropes.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Annealed Steel Wire Manufacturer , China Stainless Steel Beading Wire, Bead Wire Wrapping,and more.
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