SkyTrain shutdown possible: Strike threat spreads across TransLink system

SkyTrain shutdown possible: Threat of job action spreads across TransLink system

Burrard Station on SkyTrain's Expo Line. (Maclkin Holloway/Shutterstock)

SkyTrain services may not be an alternate option for getting around Metro Vancouver starting on the morning of Monday, January 22, when the supervisors overseeing bus and SeaBus workers could potentially walk off the job, resulting in a full shutdown of bus and SeaBus services.

Solidarity across separate unions representing different groups of TransLink workers appears to be in play, as the union representing workers on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines has indicated it will not cross the picket lines of bus operations supervisors.

An internal memo today sent to “all SkyTrain members” by Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 7000, shared with Daily Hive Urbanized, urges SkyTrain workers to not not report to work if they “come across a CUPE 4500 picket line at a SkyTrain station, or any of the [SkyTrain] Operations and Maintenance Centres.”

“You do not have to report to work,” states the memo.

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“CUPE 7000 members are protected for respecting in a legal picket line. And CUPE 7000 members that participate in picket line duties will receive strike pay from CUPE,” reads the memo.

“We realize this is very short notice, but we can’t let CMBC and TransLink step on the rights of union members. We need to fight back and keep a united front with CUPE 4500 as they fight for fair wages and better working conditions in our sector.”

This effectively means that starting on Monday morning at 3 am, service disruptions by CUPE 4500 shutting down TransLink’s bus and SeaBus services could spread to SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines, and potentially other public transit services by other operators, too.

According to the memo, CUPE 4500 is accusing TransLink administration, TransLink subsidiary BC Rapid Transit Company (BCRTC), the operator of SkyTrain Expo Line, SkyTrain Millennium Line, and West Coast Express, and ProTransBC, the operator SkyTrain Canada Line, for “taking steps to reduce the [strike] impact” on bus and SeaBus passengers. 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.

CUPE 4500 has requested an immediate hearing by filing a complaint to the BC Labour Relations Board, and if their complaint is successful, then it is stated that CUPE 4500 members will “picket at additional sites, which include SkyTrain. This would shut down all SkyTrain services,” including potentially the Canada Line.

If SkyTrain workers encounter picket lines, these workers are asked to contact CUPE 7000 immediately and join the CUPE 4500 members in picketing.

“There will be a lot of frustrated and confused transit users. We may be faced with people that take out their frustrations on SkyTrain staff. Please be patient with transit users, and also please exercise caution and stay safe,” reads the memo.

“In the meantime, even if CUPE 4500 does not set up picket lines at our worksites, we expect to see significant disruptions over the next two days.”

Daily Hive Urbanized has reached out to CMBC and TransLink for comment on the allegations and the potential for a systemwide shutdown of public transit services. The service impacts due to this escalating strike across multiple unions could be significantly more impactful than the disruptions experienced in Fall 2019, which was TransLink’s last labour unrest.

CMBC’s bus and SeaBus workers last went on an extensive strike in 2001, with labour action crippling the public transit system for four consecutive months. The strike only ended when the provincial government enacted legislation that forced thousands of workers to return to work.

Workers with SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines, represented by CUPE 7000, are technically not part of the job action, as the current labour dispute involves 180 bus operations workers represented by CUPE 4500.

These 180 bus operations supervisors oversee thousands of bus drivers, mechanics, engineers, operations and maintenance workers under TransLink subsidiary Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC), which operates and maintains bus and SeaBus services. The vast majority of CMBC workers, separately represented by Unifor, are not expected to cross CUPE 4500 picket lines.

Last week, CUPE 4500 gave CMBC an ultimatum, until the end of this weekend, to reach a “fair agreement” with the 180 bus operations workers who oversee Metro Vancouver’s bus and SeaBus systems. On Saturday, both sides returned to bargaining in a last ditch attempt to avoid service impacts, with Vince Ready acting as mediator.

The strike and resulting shutdown of services starting early Monday morning will go on for at least 48 hours.

Only CUPE 4500 members — 180 bus operations supervisors employed with CMBC — are seeking a contract at this time. CUPE 4500 states it is at odds with working conditions, compensation, and CMBC’s “measures to address unmanageable workloads.”

In response, 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.

Thousands of other CMBC workers — bus drivers, mechanics, engineers, and operations and maintenance workers — are represented under a different union, Unifor. In April 2023, Unifor reached a new three-year agreement for the vast majority of CMBC workers, providing wage increases of between 11.25% and 12.5% over the life of the contract, along with other benefits and concessions.

In July 2023, CUPE 7000 reached an agreement with BCRTC for 1,000 workers on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines. The five-year contract provides a general wage increases of 6.75%, plus 2% to 3% depending on the Consumer Price Index average, and 2.5% for the remaining three years, along with other benefits and concessions.

Workers with SkyTrain Canada Line are under a separate union — the BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU). BCGEU’s contract with ProTransBC, a subsidiary of SNC Lavalin, expired at the end of December 2023.

In September 2022, a full shutdown of West Vancouver Blue Bus was narrowly averted, when the District of West Vancouver reached an agreement with the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 134 at the 11th hour.

Since the pandemic, BC has experienced some of its longest-running public transit disruptions due to job action, specifically the 136-day shutdown of BC Transit’s services in Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton until June 2022, and the 124-day shutdown of BC Transit’s services in the Fraser Valley until July 2023.

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