No impacts to SkyTrain due to Metro Vancouver transit strike: TransLink

SkyTrain Braid Station. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

With a highly disruptive and confusing public transit strike well underway, starting today, there is an air of uncertainty with getting around Metro Vancouver — especially if you don’t have access to a car.

But according to TransLink leadership, at this time, the job action shutdown of services will be limited to Coast Mountain Bus Company’s (CMBC) bus and SeaBus services, and it will not spread to all three SkyTrain lines and the West Coast Express commuter rail for at least the foreseeable future — today (later Monday) and tomorrow (Tuesday).

In a press conference at 1 pm Monday to address the strike impacts, TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn said the BC Labour Relations Board (BCLRB) has not scheduled a hearing for Canadian Union of Public Employees 4500 (CUPE) — the union representing 180 CMBC bus operations supervisors who are currently on strike — to review the union’s complaints against TransLink.

You might also like:

“So my understanding is that a hearing has not been scheduled at this time. We don’t expect a hearing to be set for today or tomorrow and so as a result, there will not be any impacts to SkyTrain’s Expo. Millennium, and Canada lines and West Coast Express until the hearing,” said Quinn.

Daily Hive Urbanized also reached out to the BCLRB, which confirmed that as of about 2 pm Monday, they do not have a hearing scheduled involving CUPE 4500. If a hearing is scheduled, it will be posted on their website.

In their complaint filed over the weekend, CUPE 4500 accused TransLink of working with the operating entities of BC Rapid Transit Company (BCRTC; operator of SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines and the West Coast Express) and ProTransBC (operator of SkyTrain Canada Line) for taking measures to reduce the impact on bus and SeaBus passengers during the full walkout of 180 CMBC supervisors.

Quinn suggested CUPE 4500 is taking issue with TransLink’s communications strategy to inform public transit riders of their alternative ways to get around.

“I think our position is that we absolutely have the right to inform our customers of options that they have. We have the ability to inform our customers that SkyTrain is available, [and] that other services are available in the event the buses are not available,” he said, before noting that BCRTC and ProTransBC have not increased SkyTrain service in response to the bus and SeaBus shutdown.

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 order for there to be a shutdown of SkyTrain service, the BCLRB would have to host a hearing as requested by CUPE 4500, it would have to side with CUPE 4500, CUPE 4500 would have to move their picket lines to SkyTrain facilities, and then CUPE 7000 — representing 1,000 workers on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines — would then not cross CUPE 4500 picket lines.

CUPE 4500 also staged their own press conference at 2 pm Monday to provide an update on their current position and the escalation of job action service impacts.

“[We’re] waiting for that to go through that process. So we can’t really comment on that until the board hearing,” said Liam O’Neill with CUPE 4500 during the press conference.

“It’s an ally application. If we’re successful, then TransLink and SkyTrain would be acting as an ally to Coast Mountain…. We’re just going to allow that to go through the process and let the board determine that.”

Other public transit unions in Metro Vancouver have also indicated they will not cross CUPE 4500 picket lines at their facilities, which would then effectively result in a shutdown of their services separate from CMBC and BCRTC.

BC General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) says SkyTrain Canada Line workers will not cross the picket lines of CUPE 4500 at Canada Line facilities.

“Should the CUPE 4500 job action expand to affect Canada Line stations, our members would respect the picket lines in solidarity with members of CUPE 4500 seeking a fair agreement,” BCGEU Treasurer Paul Finch told Daily Hive Urbanized.

Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) 134 has also stated it will not cross any CUPE 4500 picket lines at the bus depot of the West Vancouver Blue Bus.

“In solidarity with our fellow union members, ATU Local 134 members will not cross the picket lines at the West Vancouver Transit depot. This action underscores our commitment to supporting our brothers and sisters in the labour movement, recognizing that our struggles are interconnected,” reads a statement by Cornel Neagu, the president of ATU 134.

“We hope and indeed expect reciprocal support from CUPE 4500, as well as from Unifor 111 and Unifor 220, should ATU Local 134 engage in job action. Such mutal support is the cornerstone of union solidarity, strengthening our collective voice against any form of labour inequity.”

After negotiations between CUPE 4500 and CMBC failed overnight, CUPE 4500 members — 180 bus operations supervisors — walked off the job early Monday morning, triggering a full shutdown of CMBC bus and SeaBus services.

These service disruptions are expected to last for at least 48 hours — until at least Wednesday morning.

You might also like: