A traffic jam at South Bay Road on the Laurentian University campus this afternoon (Sept. 21) is not being caused by OPSEU Local 677 picketers, according to the union's bargaining team chair, Tyler England.
England said picketers at the intersection are only handing out information to one in every 10 cars, and for the most part, traffic is free flowing.
“There's a ton of traffic on campus today,” he said. “I mean, it is the first time we've had picketers this late in the day, and we are providing some fliers to people. But for the most part, it's a free flow of traffic.”
The picketers, who are on strike against the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, had moved their picket lines to the entrance to the medical school yesterday. However, this morning they moved the picket lines back to South Bay Road and Ramsey Lake Road.
England said there are currently no traffic issues on Ramsey Lake Road.
An employee of the nearby Laurentian Child and Family Centre, who did not want to be named, told Northern Life at around 4:30 p.m. that she'd already been waiting to get out of the campus for 25 minutes.
“Right now there's hundreds of people lined up,” she said.
On a previous occasion, the woman said she'd had to wait up to an hour on Ramsey Lake Road to get onto campus because of the picket lines.
