Striking York Region Transit workers, represented by ATU Local 113, picket outside a GO Transit garage on Steeprock Drive early Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. (CP24/Tom Stefanac)

Workers involved in the York Region Transit strike have rejected a new contract offer.

The contract was rejected by 236 of 250 voting workers.

Union leaders representing workers at two companies involved in the strike had wanted to dismiss the latest offers without putting them to a vote. But the Labour Relations Board ruled they had to present the offers to their members.

Today's vote involved workers with Miller Transit. Veolia Transportation workers will vote on Jan. 17.

"This group of people are showing just what they are made of and that they are not going to be pushed around by these employers and this region," Ray Doyle, president of ATU Local 1587, told CP24 after the results were announced. "The only way to end this and end it immediately is to go back to work and agree to binding arbitration."

About 60 per cent of the region's bus routes have been shut down since the strike began on Oct. 24.

The dispute between the unions and Miller Transit and Veolia Transportation has centered around pay and benefits.

"Benefits are absolutely an issue," Doyle told CP24 prior to the vote. "(The drivers) don't have any sick days whatsoever and when you are driving a bus and have to make the decision between whether you should stay home or go in and take a chance driving a public transit vehicle with tons of passengers it's a problem."

Veolia Transportation is reportedly offering drivers a four year deal with a three per cent wage increase in the first year and two per cent increases every year after that. In a December news release the company claimed the offer is fair "particularly in this economy."

Also in December, York Region Chairman Bill Fisch refused to get involved in the dispute by legislating drivers back to work. Fisch did promise that all savings accrued during the labour disruption would be passed onto riders in the form of free service, once a resolution is reached.