It's official: TransLink's bus and SeaBus services now shut down for strike

It's official: TransLink's bus and SeaBus services now shut down due to strike

TransLink's trolley bus (EB Adventure Photography/Shutterstock) and SeaBus (Shawn.ccf/Shutterstock).

Expect very significant inconveniences with getting around Metro Vancouver on public transit starting today, Monday, January 22, as negotiations between TransLink subsidiary Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 4500 over the weekend have failed.

As a result, it has been confirmed that all TransLink bus and SeaBus services will not operate starting this morning, and this suspension of service due to strike escalation is expected to continue for at least 48 hours — at least until Wednesday morning.

The service shutdown today officially began at 1 am, and the walkout began at 3 am. CMBC first indicated negotiations failed in a written statement issued at 2:04 am. Veteran mediator Vince Ready was involved in the bargaining process.

Some buses in the middle of service were recalled back to their home bus depot as early as late Sunday, well before midnight, resulting in the cancellation of the last scheduled runs of some bus routes before the end of Sunday’s service. There were also cancellations to scheduled overnight bus services in the early hours of Monday before 3 am. This was due to the need to return buses to the depots before 3 am. Otherwise, the buses would be “stranded.”

The University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University have informed students that classes during the bus service disruptions could be held online.

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Both sides respond

“Despite our best efforts to reach a compromise with CUPE Local 4500, the union representing supervisors at CMBC has refused to adjust its demand for wage increases that are more than the wage increases accepted by all other unions at CMBC and countless other public sector employees,” said CMBC president and general manager Michael McDaniel in the statement.

“CMBC offered increased overtime pay, improved benefits, and committed to hiring more supervisors. Unfortunately, the union again refused the improved offer. This is unacceptable and unreasonable. Disruption to customers could end immediately if the union accepted the reasonable offer that is on the table. We remain willing to join the union at the table and urge them to accept this reasonable offer.”

CUPE 4500 states it is at odds with working conditions, compensation, and CMBC’s “measures to address unmanageable workloads.”

CMBC has maintained that its main sticking point in the negotiations is CUPE 4500’s compensation request beyond what was recently offered to other employees. CUPE 4500 is asking for wage increases of 20% to 25% over the three-year life of the contract, but CMBC has offered 13.5% and 24.5%. CMBC has provided a full breakdown of the existing wages of bus operations supervisors, the proposed wages by the employer, and the request by CUPE 4500.

In its statement issued at 2:10 am, CUPE 4500 states its members will set up picket lines starting this morning at CMBC bus depots in Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, and SeaBus’ Lonsdale terminal. All CMBC-operated bus and SeaBus services are effectively suspended.

“With the help of our mediator, CUPE 4500 put in an honest effort to find some common ground with Coast Mountain. But we are still not near where we need to be in addressing our key issues,” said Liam O’Neill, the spokesperson for CUPE 4500. “For a fair settlement, CUPE 4500 members need wage discrepancies closed between them and other Translink supervisors, and we need to tackle critical workload issues.”

“CUPE 4500 members are proud of the job we do for our passengers. Like them, our families and friends depend on transit too. We regret these disruptions and the challenges this will cause for the people we serve every day. But Coast Mountain could have avoided this. Instead, they put us, and, through their inflexibility, transit users, in this situation.”

TransLink’s CMBC bus and SeaBus services are shut down starting today, as CUPE 4500 is escalating its job action in its attempt to secure a new favourable contract for 180 bus operations supervisors. It first engaged in an overtime ban on January 6.

When will the strike end? Will SkyTrain be impacted?

These 180 bus operations supervisors oversee thousands of bus drivers, engineers, mechanics, and other operations and maintenance workers under CMBC, which is the TransLink subsidiary responsible for operating bus and SeaBus services. The vast majority of CMBC workers, including bus drivers, are represented by another union, Unifor, and are not seeking an agreement, as they secured a new three-year contract last year.

Unless CMBC and CUPE 4500 reach an agreement within roughly the next 48 hours, there are no guarantees that bus and SeaBus services will resume by Wednesday morning, and public transit riders should continue to try to plan for alternate ways to get around.

Also, at the time of writing, SkyTrain’s Expo Line, Millennium Line, and Canada Line will remain operational for Monday’s service, but this could quickly change later today, with the separate unions representing other public transit workers indicating they will not cross the picket lines of CUPE 4500 at SkyTrain stations and SkyTrain operations and maintenance facilities.

CUPE 7000, the separate union representing 1,000 workers on the Expo and Millennium lines, sent an internal memo to their members early Sunday asking them to not cross any CUPE 4500 picket lines at SkyTrain facilities. CUPE 7000 has indicated if CUPE 4500 takes such measures, the Expo and Millennium lines will also shut down, and CUPE 7000’s workers on the Expo and Millennium lines will also join the picket lines and earn strike pay.

For CUPE 4500 members to legally picket at SkyTrain facilities, which would trigger CUPE 7000 members to join the picket lines and effectively shut down SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines, the BC Labour Relations Board (BCLRB) needs to hold an emergency hearing and side with CUPE 4500.

Labour policies forbid other public transit services, operated by workers with other unions, to step up and increase their capacity to fill the void left by a shutdown of a service. In its complaint, CUPE 4500 has accused TransLink and its operating subsidiaries of preparing measures to mitigate the service impacts on bus and SeaBus passengers.

If the hearing is held later on Monday, and BCLRB sides with CUPE 4500, a cascading chain of events could lead to CUPE 7000 joining the strike and the shutdown of SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines later today. Without the BCLRB’s approval, CUPE 4500 can legally only picket at bus facilities, without impacting SkyTrain.

It remains to be seen whether SkyTrain Canada Line, West Coast Express, and West Vancouver Blue Bus will see service impacts due to potential solidarity across the public transit unions. As of the time of writing, TransLink has stated these other services will operate normally.

This is the first major service impact on Metro Vancouver’s public transit system due to job action since the labour unrest of Fall 2019.

In 2023, TransLink’s subsidiaries reached a three-year contract agreement with Unifor for thousands of bus and SeaBus workers, and a five-year contract agreement with CUPE 7000 for over 1,000 SkyTrain workers on the Expo and Millennium lines.

Since the end of December 2023, workers on SkyTrain Canada Line have been without a contract with their employer, ProTransBC, a subsidiary of SNC Lavalin. They are separately represented by the BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU).

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