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BURNABY, B.C.—Contract concessions demanded by one of Metro Vancouver’s key waste treatment providers have pushed Unifor Local 433 to initiate strike action starting at 6 a.m. Pacific on Tuesday, August 25, 2026.
“The employer should give its head a shake if it thinks Unifor members are going to eat concessions to pad Veolia profits,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “This employer won a public bid to do this service with existing labour costs. Concessions will rob our members to reward shareholders.”
After exhaustive talks broke down last month, nearly 40 steam engineers and other skilled trades workers will walk a picket line to defend the status quo against an employer looking to shave costs at workers’ expense. Local 433 says that concessions are entirely unnecessary because Veolia holds the municipal waste contract for four more years and its costs are largely fixed over that period.
“Resisting corporate greed is an easy sell during a strike vote,” said Unifor Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle. “Veolia’s heartless bargaining tactics have unified our members in this fight for contract fairness.”
Unifor members at the waste-to-energy facility operate and maintain equipment to convert municipal waste into electricity.
Veolia Canada is a division of the French multinational outsourcing company Veolia Environnement S.A.. In 2025, Veolia Environnement S.A. recorded profits of €1.64 billion.
