CTV Ottawa has learned that Andr� Cornellier, the outspoken head of the transit union, will shun the spotlight for now after he and his family received personal threats via telephone and e-mail.
Ottawa police are investigating the threats.
"I think it's taken on a real personal attack tone on Andr�," said Randy Graham, a spokesman for the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Tensions were high on day six of the OC Transpo strike, with police investigating after eggs were thrown at picket lines and the union rebuffing the mayor's request to hold a vote on the city's contract offer for striking OC Transpo workers.
"The significant issues that are outstanding have not been addressed, and in fact as early as today the mayor said those issues were non-negotiable," Graham said Monday.
"So definitely we're not going back to the table."
Mayor Larry O'Brien and the city's transit head went public on Sunday with their call for a full union vote on their contract proposal. But Graham, and many striking workers across Ottawa ,weren't amenable to the request.
"(O'Brien) wants to go around the union and basically talk to the membership, which he did through his website" said maintenance worker Steve McCullough.
"To the public, I'm absolutely sorry that we're doing this to you. "Whatever the membership and the brotherhood does, it's only because we have, just to protect our own jobs.
Driver Brent Lambert said declaring OC Transpo an essential service would break the deadlock.
"The city would be paying us and an arbitrator would be telling (the city) what they have to pay us, and it would be more than it is now, because they go across the county to find out what the equity is," Lambert told CTV Ottawa.
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The question is whether a deal is possible before Christmas.
Commuter traffic will lighten next week as school breaks and many people begin Christmas holidays. That may reduce the impetus for a quick agreement, according to CTV Ottawa's Catherine Lathem.
O'Brien said Monday that the strike could extend into the new year if no contract is signed by Christmas.
"We're committed with all our energies to get it ended as soon as possible," O'Brien said.
Meanwhile, picket lines returned to City Hall for a couple of hours Monday morning before coming down at about 9 a.m., easing rush hour congestion.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Catherine Lathem
