TORONTO - More than 3,000 aspiring motorists across the province could be stalled in their tracks for every day that Ontario's driving examiners spend on picket lines should they go on strike Friday.

Negotiations between the United Steelworkers local 9511 and their employer were pushed forward 24 hours after an initial strike deadline of 2 a.m. on Thursday.

More than 550 examiners will stay home from work if a deal isn't reached and the deadline isn't extended, and no road or written tests will take place across the province as long as examiners continue to picket.

Graeme Bennett is one of the thousands who will be slumping behind the steering wheel. The 31-year-old had planned to take his G licence road test a week ago but an injured finger wrapped in a massive splint has postponed his exam.

Now, already frustrated with the delay, Bennett said a strike would be adding insult to injury, literally.

"It would be quite irritating," he said. "When I do have a bit of free time I have to use it well, so I expect the services to be there."

One of the biggest bones of contention for the union is job security.

"They work our members very hard with very long hours in the summer and in the winter they lay them off," said assistant director Marie Kelly, who is directly involved in the talks between the union and employer Serco DES Inc.

Kelly said union members had long complained about the unsteady nature of their positions, adding that supervisors often took over the duties of examiners during the colder months of the year.

This often forced laid-off examiners onto Employment Insurance for the winter, said Kelly, who added the union was striving for an equitable workplace that was "not being run like a third-world country."

"If we can't solve that key issue then we're not going to be able to get a deal," she said.

The bargaining committee had been working around the clock at a hotel in west Toronto to reach a settlement before the final deadline.

"We're going to continue to slog on and do the best we can," Kelly said.

A representative from Serco DES said the fact that negotiations had continued past the initial deadline was a good sign.

"Both sides think it's worth continuing to talk," said Paul Dalglish. "We haven't reached a settlement yet but we're definitely working towards it."

In the case of a walkout, licences that are about to expire will automatically be extended indefinitely until the end of the strike, said Dalglish.

The union represents the employees of Ontario's 55 permanent DriveTest locations and 38 occasionally open centres. These are the only facilities that issue licences to novice drivers and renew licences for motorists over the age of 80.

Renewals of licences for those who do not require testing will continue to be available at Ontario Driver & Vehicle License Issuing Offices.

The potential strike comes after months of negotiations between the union and its employer.

The two sides began discussions in mid-February.

The agreement under scrutiny is the second part of a larger labour contract that started three years ago.

Earlier Wednesday, union members reviewed an offer from Serco DES and voted overwhelmingly to reject it and strike if a better deal could not be reached.

In 2003, the Ontario government contracted out driver testing in the province to Serco under a 10-year licence.