A tentative agreement has been reached in an eight-week strike at a Bombardier rail plant that builds subways, trains and streetcars for the Toronto Transit Commission, GO and others.

The agreement covering the Thunder Bay plant will be presented for ratification on Friday, Sept. 12 at 8:30 a.m., the union said in a statement Thursday.

“These workers have stood up for good jobs in their community. Our fight against the employer’s concessions has shown the resolve of the membership to fight for fairness,” local president Dominic Pasqualino said.

Bombardier Transportation said in a release that it “hopes to see our valued employees return to work as quickly as possible,” adding, “We believe this new agreement continues to provide for well paid jobs in Thunder Bay and meets the needs of the company moving forward.”

Details of the new collective agreement will be presented at the ratification vote.

The main issues in the dispute have been the company’s demand for cuts in benefits to new hires.

The workers at Bombardier build the new subway and streetcars for the Toronto Transit Commission, as well as cars for the GO train commuter train service. The plant got the TTC contract under a Buy Ontario policy that the union says it helped secure.

The labour disruption came at a critical time for the TTC as it prepares to launch its new fleet of streetcars, two of which went into service on the Spadina line on Aug. 31.

The Bombardier facility also builds GO Transit’s green and white bi-level cars and has orders for light rapid transit vehicles for Metrolinx and Kitchener-Waterloo and the Toronto Rocket, Toronto’s next generation of subway cars.

Bombardier company spokesperson Marc-Andre Lefebvre has said in previous interviews the company was committed to meeting all of its obligations to customers.

The launch of the TTC’s new low-floor accessible, air-conditioned streetcars on Spadina Ave. went ahead as planned at the end of August.

The 900 members of Unifor Local 1075 have been on strike since July 14.

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Last month, the workers rejected a “last offer” from the company by 80 per cent in a vote ordered by the Ontario Ministry of Labour after an application from Bombardier.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing more than 305,000 workers.

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