KAMLOOPS — Shock and anger from union members today as Greyhound Canada plans to shut down its operations in Western Canada.
The Amalgamated Transit Union confirmed the news this morning with Local 1374 President Eric Carr noting operations will officially cease west of Sudbury October 31, 2018.
“The rationale was that they’ve been losing money for years and they say it’s not a viable business in the west anymore. They never gave the union or any of us an opportunity to work with them on anything. I was not a happy camper, I’ll put it that way.”
He estimates anywhere from 420 to 500 union members will be affected. Carr says all members will receive severance packages and the company will fulfill its pension obligations though.
After nearly 100 years of operations in Western Canada he says it’s hard to believe it’s come to this.
“They mismanaged this business. When we lost control in Canada and First Group took over they ran this business out of the U.S. and they ran it poorly. This does not have anything to do with wages of workers…There’s still some viability in this business but not the way it was being run from another country.”
In a statement this morning, Greyhound says it regrets their decision but notes ridership has dropped 41 per cent across the country since 2010.
The company confirms all routes will cease in Western Canada with the exception of its Vancouver to Seattle route.
