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Over 4,700 transit operators, skilled trades, SeaBus and support workers have voted 98 per cent in favour of a strike mandate if necessary in response to Coast Mountain Bus Company’s contract concession demands.
Unifor Locals 111 and 2200 took the action to protest the company’s refusal to table a fair wage offer and remove concessions during bargaining talks that started February 17 and broke off April 6. Coast Mountain is a TransLink subsidiary.
“Our drivers work hard and the 98 per cent vote to strike if absolutely necessary is a demand for a reasonable wage offer and decent working conditions,” said Unifor Local 111 president Nathan Woods.
“With this strong support we expect the employer to come back to the table with a fair contract offer and drop concessions for our transit operators,” he added.
Woods said a strike is unnecessary and that he is confident an agreement can be achieved while avoiding service disruptions if CMBC responds appropriately to the members' clear message.
Joe Elworthy, president of Unifor Local 2200 representing mechanics, Seabus, maintenance and other workers, said the vote indicates members “won’t accept cutbacks to an already strained system.”
“Transit in the Lower Mainland needs a funding boost, not a cut, in order to improve service to hundreds of thousands of daily riders. Concessions by workers will only make things worse,” Elworthy said.
Unifor BC Director Gavin McGarrigle said Coast Mountain is out of step with jurisdictions around the world which are aiming to use transit improvements to stimulate local economies, lower air pollution and clear congested roads.
“Coast Mountain Bus Company needs to understand that workers are the backbone of any modern transportation system and they should be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve for their hard work serving the public each and every day,” he said.
Unifor 111’s Woods added that it is ironic the federal government is offering significant infrastructure funding that could add more buses and start work on the Broadway subway extension and light rail transit in Surrey and Langley to improve service, but Coast Mountain Bus Company expects the workers who run the system to accept worse working conditions and a substandard wage increase.
“There is a great opportunity now to improve public transit by ending pass-ups, reducing overcrowding and increasing service but CMBC seems intent on confrontation instead of cooperation,” Woods said. “Let’s get a new contract and work together on building a better transit system.”
Unifor Local 111 represents 3,700 Metro Vancouver transit operators. Unifor Local 2200 represents 1,000 skilled trades, SeaBus and support workers.
