THUNDER BAY – The union president representing workers at the city’s Bombardier plant says he believes meeting the TTC’s aggressive delivery schedule will be “no problem.”
Earlier this week Bombardier announced they intend to ship an average of four completed streetcars a month to the Toronto Transit Commission starting in April to get back on track towards meeting the $1.2 billion contract.
The company, which was originally scheduled to have 67 of the contracted 204 cars in operation by the end of 2015 but was only able to fulfill a fraction of that obligation, has drawn the ire of Toronto politicians and transit users.
Last fall, members of the TTC board publicly considered launching a lawsuit to seek $50 million in penalties from Bombardier or to enact measures to block the company from bidding on future projects.
Unifor Local 1075 president Dominic Pasqualino is optimistic the local plant can meet the new targets.
“If we have the material to do the things we’ll certainly will be able to do it. Our plant has obviously done some other cars at a faster rate than that. I realize these cars are probably more extensive than the other ones but one a week or four per month is certainly reasonable,” Pasqualino told TBT News on Friday.
“All of our members realize the importance of getting these cars to Toronto so we can relieve the pressures on Toronto’s system right now. We understand that, everybody gets it and we’re doing everything we can to meet the demands and delivery dates.”
One of the speculated causes for the delays is the struggle in receiving parts from international plants that arrive on time and are compatible.
Pasqualino said he has been assured by company management those issues have been corrected.
“We’re going to do everything possible to meet those demand. Our crew is ready, willing and able to do that job,” he said. “Certainly it looks like the issues from Mexico have been worked on. There have been changes at the Mexican plant so hopefully the parts will come in and our guys will do the job we’ve always done here.”
Bombardier spokesman Marc-Andre Lefebvre told CKPR Radio on Thursday the company is committed to working with Toronto.
“Right now everything is going as planned with discussions we’ve had with the TTC,” Lefebvre said.
“The Toronto Transit Commission has stated that the schedule we’ve submitted is achievable and they are holding us to it.”
Under the contract, Bombardier is to have all of the streetcars delivered and in operation by the end of 2019.
