'The strike will continue until further notice': Talks fall apart again between region, GRT union

GRT strike enters day two From CTV Kitchener's Natalie van Rooy: The region is back at the table with the GRT union, but many commuters are still stranded.

KITCHENER — The Region of Waterloo and the union representing hundreds of Grand River Transit employees agreed to resume discussions on Wednesday, but by the afternoon, talks had broken down again.

"We are hopeful an agreement can be reached, transit services can be restored to the community and our employees can return to work," a tweet from the region read in part.

But around 1:20 p.m., the region tweeted that they were unable to reach an agreement with the union.

The region says that it is still in communication with Unifor Local 4304, who represents the GRT employees.

"The strike will continue until further notice," the region says in a tweet.

Employees walked off on Tuesday morning after a tentative agreement was voted down on Sunday, leaving commuters in a bind.

The union says the key issue is workplace safety.

"The incidents that do take place are verbal assaults, people have been spat on, they've had food and other things thrown at them," explains Tim Jewell, Unifor Local 4304 president.

The region says it's already agreed to install barriers to every bus in the fleet over the next three years, but the union says that response times for supervisors or security can range from six to 12 minutes.

The LRT has continued to run through the strike.