Union to suspend Metro Vancouver transit strike during mediation process

TransLink trolley bus (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The union representing 180 striking bus operations supervisors for TransLink’s Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) says it will suspend any strike action for the time being during the provincial government’s mandated special mediation process.

BC Labour Minister Harry Bains announced this morning that special mediator Vince Ready will work with Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 4500 and CMBC 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 February 7.

Then just after 12 pm today, CUPE 4500 announced it will not be escalating job action until after Friday, February 2 — when government-appointed special mediator issues his non-binding recommendations to both the union and the employer.

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This means there will not be another shutdown of CMBC’s bus and SeaBus services or any other public transit service in the region until at least February 2, providing hundreds of thousands of public transit riders with some temporary certainty of the continuity of services. The overtime ban that began on January 6 will continue during the mediation process.

“We are prepared to continue our work with Mr. Ready. If anyone can help us reach a deal, it’s him,” says Liam O’Neill, spokesperson for CUPE 4500, in a statement. “But for this process to be successful, Coast Mountain and TransLink are going to need to show some willingness to find common ground. Their past conduct in mediation leaves us skeptical.”

But CUPE 4500 further warns that if an agreement is not reached, they will escalate job action starting by 12:01 am on Saturday, February 3, with CUPE 4500 members walking off the job for 72 hours for the second round of the shutdown of bus and SeaBus services.

The union also states the second shutdown could be much more disruptive, as they intend to expand CUPE 4500’s picketing sites to include other TransLink locations, such as SkyTrain stations and other facilities beyond the bus and SeaBus network. This will happen if the BC Relations Labour Board permits CUPE 4500 to expand its job action, with board’s hearing with the union now scheduled for Monday, January 29.

“If the option is open to CUPE 4500, we will be picketing SkyTrain operations in addition to Coast Mountain. This will effectively shut down all buses, the SeaBus, and all SkyTrain lines for three days,” continued O’Neill.

The 180 bus operations supervisors who are CUPE 4500 members returned to work today, enabling a restart of bus and SeaBus services after 48 hours of picketing since 3 am this past Monday.

“Not having transit service is a huge challenge for the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on it. I have appointed Vince Ready as a special mediator in the ongoing collective bargaining dispute between Metro Vancouver transit supervisors represented by CUPE 4500, and the Coast Mountain Bus Company,” said Bains in a statement this morning.

In response to Bains’ announcement, CMBC president and general manager Michael McDaniel said he “welcomes the appointment of a Special Mediator to help resolve this dispute. This is good news for the hundreds of thousands of people who have had their lives disrupted this week. We hope the union will not resume any job action while the Special Mediator is doing his work. CMBC is committed to working closely with the Special Mediator in the coming days.”

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