MONCTON, NB–It’s week ten of the Codiac Transpo lockout and the finger-pointing continues as to why the dispute has dragged on so long.

Negotiations remain in limbo with the city claiming the union is dragging its feet awaiting a ruling from the Labour Board over a complaint brought forward by the union.

It’s a charge Union President George Turple denies.  He suggests the hold-up has to more to do with the city not being able to keep the buses on the road.  “The maintenance on the vehicles has not been done and this needed to be completed, and now the City is outsourcing that maintenance.   I believe that is why they had stalled on this and they will continue to  stall because they do not have the fleet up and ready to commit to the service that they should be committing to.”

Meantime, he says says with school just around the corner, even more Codiac Transpo riders are going to be left in the lurch.

He says many university and even high school students in the city rely on Public Transit to get to and from class.