Mediator appointed as transit strike in Whistler and Squamish exceeds 4 months
With no end in sight to the prolonged strike of workers in BC Transit’s Sea-to-Sky Corridor, the provincial government announced on Tuesday evening it has appointed Vince Ready as a special mediator in the dispute.
This follows the rejection by the workers of Pacific Western Transit — the third-party contractor for BC Transit — on Wednesday, when they were asked to vote on a tentative agreement reached last week between the leadership of Unifor Local 114 and their employer.
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The strike and service disruptions first began on January 29, 2022, which means the labour action has now exceeded four consecutive months.
“Ready is a highly regarded mediator among the labour, business and public-sector communities, and I am confident he will do everything he can to help end this labour dispute. The residents of Whistler, Pemberton, and Squamish have gone without their needed transit services for too long,” said BC labour minister Harry Bains in a statement.
“Under the Labour Relations Code, a special mediator assists in settling the terms of a collective agreement and reports back to the minister responsible.”
In his capacity as a special mediator, Ready has been asked to work with both parties for up to 10 days to secure an end to the ongoing strike. If a settlement cannot be reached in this timeline, he will issue recommendations to end the dispute, with both parties having five days to either accept or reject his recommendations.
Gavin McGarrigle, the Unifor Western Regional Director, says the union is looking forward “to making submissions to the [special] mediator about the high cost of living and wage disparities.”
Unifor Local 114 previously stated the employer failed to make enough progress on wage parity, with the union previously proposing parity by “converting a previously offered signing bonus into wages and adding a small adjustment to those wages in 2024.”
The union represents over 80 workers who voted to strike in August 2021.
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