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tbnewswatch.com file photo
Signs posted at the Drivetest centre during the first days of a labour dispute describe how the strike has effected services. Drivetest will offer select services to customers as the strike continues.
People hoping to get their driver’s license continue to wait, but the lineup is starting to move.
The striking driver examiners, represented by the United Steelworkers union, rejected the most recent DriveTest offer by nearly 80 per cent Wednesday.
The union, which asked its members to reject the latest offer, is now asking the company to return to the bargaining table.
Despite the rejection, Drivetest managers are opening the doors to test centres in six locations, which includes Thunder Bay. Drivetest will offer limited services to customers who need licences for employment or who have registered for driver training.
"We will be giving priority to the people whose livelihood has been most impacted by this strike," said Paul Dalglish, managing director of DriveTest. "In doing so, we had to make some difficult choices about where to deploy our limited resources.
Drivetest centres will be opened in Thunder Bay, Toronto, Brampton, Ottawa, Kitchener and North Bay.
The limited services offered at those centres will include:
- Written test for all classes of licence.
- Road tests for commercial classified licences only.
- Out-of-province and out-of-country licence exchanges.
"We hope that these focused efforts can begin to address the hardship this strike has caused," added Dalglish
Drivers who have had their licence expire after Aug. 24 due to a need for a retest will be covered by the automatic licence extension put in place by the Ministry of Transportation.
There is an estimated backlog of about 300,000 people waiting for tests and re-certifications.
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