TORONTO, Ont. — Striking employees of DriveTest are staging a rally and press conference at Queen’s Park today, where they’re expected to publicly pitch a plan to provide road tests while the strike is ongoing.

In a posting on its Web site, Wayne Fraser, director for the United Steelworkers union in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, said driver examiners are willing to conduct road tests directly for the Ministry of Transportation while the strike continues.

“We are prepared to continue to resume licensing to the general public during the labour dispute so that the public does not unnecessarily suffer from our dispute with this third party contractor who the Ministry has hired to run the workplace,” he said.

“Our members are fighting for fairness, justice and dignity within our workplace. Our battle is not with the general public, it’s with our employer, Serco/DriveTest,” added Local 9511 president, Jim Young.

Serco is a publicly-traded European-based company that owns DriveTest, which is responsible for conducting road tests. Since the strike began nearly two months ago, commercial drivers wishing to obtain a new A/Z licence have been unable to do so. The Ontario Trucking Association this week urged both sides to get back the bargaining table.