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Buses remain idle

Ontario Northland News Release *********************** All Ontario Northland passenger motor coach and bus parcel express services remain temporarily suspended as the legal strike by motor coach operators, represented by Teamsters Canada Rail Confere
Ontario Northland
News Release

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All Ontario Northland passenger motor coach and bus parcel express services remain temporarily suspended as the legal strike by motor coach operators, represented by Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, enters into its third week.

Representatives from the Company and from Teamsters met on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week, in the presence of a federal mediation officer, to further discuss contract terms. Unfortunately, negotiations broke off on Friday afternoon.

“We exchanged proposals with union representatives during this most recent round of negotiations but, unfortunately, were unable to reach an agreement. We remain willing to return to negotiations at any time and are anxious to achieve a resolution,” said Beverly Martin, Chief Communications Officer with Ontario Northland.

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Background

Ontario Northland announced on Saturday, September 29, 2007, that all of its passenger motor coach and bus parcel express services were being temporarily suspended due to a labour disruption by motor coach operators represented by Teamsters Canada Rail Conference.

The territory affected by the disruption includes all Ontario Northland motor coach routes between Hearst and Toronto, along both the Highway 11 corridor through North Bay and the Highway 144/69 corridor through Sudbury.

In addition, most shuttle services connecting to our Northlander and Polar Bear Express passenger trains are also suspended. The Northlander shuttle service traveling north in the evenings from Cochrane to Driftwood, Smooth Rock Falls, Kapuskasing and Hearst is still available. Unfortunately, southbound shuttle services from these locations to Cochrane is not available. The Polar Bear Express will continue to travel between Cochrane and Moosonee from Monday through Friday and the Northlander train will continue to travel between Cochrane and Toronto daily, except Saturday.

Passengers scheduled to travel through or within the affected area may hold their tickets for future travel or return them to any Ontario Northland station or agency for a full refund on the unused portion, without penalty. In addition, passengers traveling along the Highway 11 corridor may redeem their motor coach tickets for travel on Ontario Northland’s Northlander passenger train.

Passengers are encouraged to contact Ontario Northland’s Passenger Services Department at 1.800.461.8558 for more information.

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