Hearing date to consider Metro Vancouver transit strike expansion moved

Buses parked at TransLink's Burnaby Transit Centre bus depot. (Daniel Chai/Daily Hive)

BC Labour Relations Board’s (BCLRB) scheduled hearing date to consider the expansion of the job action of Metro Vancouver’s public transit workers has been moved later into next week.

This meeting to consider Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 4500’s complaints and application to expand job action was originally scheduled for Monday, January 29, but as of today, it has been moved to the morning of Wednesday, January 31.

The entities also partaking in the meeting are TransLink, TransLink’s subsidiaries of Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC; operator of CMBC buses and SeaBus) and BC Rapid Transit Company (BCRTC; operator of SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines), ProTransBC (operator of SkyTrain Canada Line), and West Coast Express.

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This is a critical meeting to deliberate whether CUPE 4500’s members — 180 CMBC supervisors for bus and SeaBus operations — can legally expand their picketing lines to other public transit facilities across the region.

Due to labour solidarity understandings, the unions of the other public transit services have told their members to not cross CUPE 4500 picket lines at their facilities, which would effectively result in a shutdown of other services as well, such as SkyTrain, West Coast Express, and the Blue Bus.

Ahead of the shutdown of bus and SeaBus services earlier this week, CUPE 4500 alleges TransLink and its operators took measures to reduce the service impacts on bus and SeaBus riders.

According to CUPE 4500, Metro Vancouver public transit riders can expect no major disruptions to services until at least 12:01 am on Saturday, February 3. Yesterday, CUPE 4500 indicated that if it is not able to reach a deal by Friday, February 2, it will begin a 72-hour expanded strike and shutdown of services the next day.

In the meantime, during the special mediation process, the job action has reverted to the original overtime ban.

Under the provincial government’s direction yesterday, both CUPE 4500 and CMBC are engaged in special mediation for up to six days to reach an agreement. After that, if both sides still cannot find common ground, the union and employer will have five days to to accept or reject the agreement. If the maximum bargaining timeline is used, both sides may not make a decision until Wednesday, February 7.

This week’s highly disruptive 48-hour shutdown of bus and SeaBus services officially began at 3 am on Monday, January 22 and ended at 3 am on Wednesday, January 24.

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