TransLink and union to re-enter bargaining in a bid to avoid shutdown

Darcy Matheson/Daily Hive

Could a full shutdown of Metro Vancouver’s bus and SeaBus services starting early Monday, January 22 morning be averted?

Both sides in the ongoing labour dispute appear to be giving negotiations one more attempt. In a bulletin Friday afternoon, TransLink’s Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) stated it has been invited back to the bargaining table by veteran mediator Vince Ready on Saturday, January 20, and they have accepted to re-engage in talks.

“We hope that an agreement can be made that would avoid disruptions for our customers,” reads the bulletin.

If the full walkout proceeds, it will begin at 3 am on Monday, January 22.

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On Thursday morning, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 4500 announced it was providing CMBC with an ultimatum to reach an agreement acceptable to 180 bus operations supervisors, who have been on job action with an overtime ban since January 6.

If an agreement is not reached by the start of service on Monday, January 22, the 180 bus operations supervisors will walk off the job for at least 48 hours. TransLink has confirmed this could result in a full shutdown of CMBC-operated bus and SeaBus services across the region.

If the shutdown goes ahead, this would be the first labour-related impact to services since the strike of Fall 2019 by Unifor, a different union representing thousands of bus workers, engineers, mechanics, and other operations and maintenance workers. Unifor reached a separate three-year contract agreement for these workers in 2023.

The 180 bus operations supervisors coordinate, lead, and oversee thousands of workers under CMBC. This includes CMBC’s transit supervisors, maintenance supervisors, service supervisors, tire person supervisors, TComm supervisors, field service trainers, engineers, and warranty administrators, as well as supervisors for the parts department, body shop, trolley overhead, and fare box.

“CUPE 4500 has been waiting over four weeks for Coast Mountain to respond to our latest proposal. Our patience for Coast Mountain to take bargaining and our issues seriously has been exhausted. Our members deserve a fair deal,” said CUPE 4500 spokesperson Liam O’Neill at a press conference on Thursday morning.

“We regret the disruptions passengers will be experiencing, but we are out of options. Unless Coast Mountain commits to ensure transit supervisors get the same wages as others doing similar work, and take our workload issues seriously, we are left with no choice.”

CUPE 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 the union’s compensation request beyond what was offered to other employees. The union 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%.

Here is CMBC’s full breakdown:

Transit Supervisor:
- Existing salary (not including overtime): $92,415
- CMBC offer (after three years): $104,886 (+13.5%)
- Union demand (after three years): $115,477 (+25%)
T-Comm Supervisor:
- Existing salary (not including overtime): $96,398
- CMBC offer (after three years): $109,385 (+13.5%)
- Union demand (after three years): $115,477 (+20%)
Shift Service Supervisor:
- Existing salary (not including overtime): $88,437
- CMBC offer (after three years): $100,392 (+13.5%)
- Union demand (after three years): $106,483 (+20.5%)
Supervisor of Mechanics:
- Existing salary (not including overtime): $113,799
- CMBC offer (after three years): $141,606 (+24.5%)
- Union demand (after three years): $141,606 (+25%)
Other trades supervisors:
- Existing salary (not including overtime): $113,799
- CMBC offer (after three years): $130,754 (+15%)
- Union demand (after three years): $141,606 (+25%)

CMBC is the TransLink subsidiary responsible for operating and maintaining the bus and SeaBus systsem.

Workers for West Vancouver Blue Bus, SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines, SkyTrain Canada Line, and West Coast Express are also not part of this job action, as they are under different union representation. Under labour laws, other public transit services are unable to increase their services to make up for any reduced bus capacity.

A full strike of workers on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines in Fall 2019 was narrowly averted in the very early morning hours, with an agreement reached and announced at 5 am on December 10, which resulted in some delays to the start of service.

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