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VANCOUVER – Transit operators represented by Unifor Local 111 will begin taking the breaks they are entitled to at the end of designated routes starting Wednesday, September 2, escalating job action at Coast Mountain Bus Company. Operators will no longer give up their breaks to make up lost time.
Buses will continue to run and operators will remain on the job. Riders on a limited number of routes may see delays. Unifor will announce affected routes in advance so passengers can plan.
“No transit operator should have to choose between using a washroom and keeping a bus on time, said Unifor National President Lana Payne. Coast Mountain Bus Company has built schedules that only work when operators give up their own breaks, and that is not safe for the people driving the bus or the people riding it. Our members are taking the breaks their collective agreement already provides.”
Running time is the time built into a schedule to travel between stops. Recovery time is the time allotted at the end of a run before the next one begins. Operators have routinely skipped or shortened these breaks to keep buses close to schedule, absorbing the gap themselves.
Members voted 99.35 per cent in favour of job action on May 27 and have been in a uniform ban since August 17. The break campaign is the next stage of that action.
The union has identified routes where recovery time is most severely compressed. Operators on those routes will take a reasonable break at the terminus when they need one, as the collective agreement allows.
“Operators have been covering for these schedules for years, and it has been invisible to everyone except the people doing it, said Unifor Local 111 President Mike McMillan. This is a problem the employer can fix. We are giving riders advance notice on every affected route because riders are not who we have a dispute with.”
Unifor Local 111 represents transit operators at Coast Mountain Bus Company, which operates bus and SeaBus service across Metro Vancouver.
