Tentative deal averts transit strike

TORONTO, April 20 (UPI) -- Negotiators announced Sunday they had reached tentative agreement on a new contract for Toronto Transit Commission operators and maintenance workers.

Bob Kinnear, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, announced the deal in a televised news conference, the Toronto Star reported. Transit workers had said if no agreement was reached by 4 p.m. Sunday, almost 9,000 workers would not report for their shifts at 4 a.m. Monday.

"This has probably been the toughest negotiations our local has been through," Kinnear said.

The union said the three-year deal contains no concessions by workers but no details were immediately made available.

Toronto Transit Commission workers went on strike for seven hours in May 2006, catching the city's commuters off guard. Hundreds of thousands of commuters were forced to walk, hitchhike or wait hours for taxis until the government ordered the union to call off the walkout.