Union's 25% wage hike demand will cost $250 million: TransLink CEO | Daily Hive

Union's 25% wage hike demand to end transit strike will cost $250 million: TransLink CEO

Buses parked at TransLink's Burnaby Transit Centre bus depot. (Daniel Chai/Daily Hive)

There is no end in sight on when TransLink subsidiary Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) and Canadian Union of Public Employees 4500 (CUPE) will return to the bargaining table to end the strike, resulting in the complete end to the disruptions to bus and SeaBus services.

TransLink maintains that the union’s wage increase remains unrealistic, with talks breaking down between both sides in the early morning hours of Monday, leading to 180 bus operations supervisors walking off the job for at least 48 hours — until at least Wednesday morning.

“Coast Mountain Bus Company was working hard to reach a compromise with the union and prevent this all day yesterday and Saturday through mediation,” said TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn during a press conference at 1 pm Monday.

“But unfortunately, CMBC informs us that the union continues to demand far higher wage increases than their colleagues. This is disappointing and frustrating. This is unfair to our customers. The people of this region do not deserve to be caught in the middle of this dispute.”

You might also like:

According to CMBC, CUPE 4500 is asking for wage increases of 20% to 25% over the three-year life of the new contract for five different types of CMBC supervisors that make up the 180 members who are striking. This includes 25% for “transit supervisors,” which make up about one-third of the 180 members. In contrast, CMBC is countering with 13.5% for three types of supervisors, 15% for one type of supervisor, and 24.5% for one type of supervisor — all over three years.

Quinn says the 13.5% wage increase over three years was accepted by all other CMBC unions in 2023, namely Unifor, which represents thousands of bus drivers, engineers, mechanics, and other operations and maintenance workers.

“I understand CMBC even improved on its original offer and addressed the union’s demands regarding workload issues. CMBC has advised us that the union still wants significantly more than any other union has settled for,” said Quinn.

Quinn then shared that TransLink is concerned that agreeing to a 25% wage increase for CUPE 4500’s 180 members will set a major precedent for future labour negotiations with other unions — representing many more TransLink workers — when contracts expire. He suggests these other unions could come back with a similarly high increase in future years, which would have a major financial impact on TransLink.

The total cost for TransLink over 10 years is estimated at $250 million, based on “the ripple effect of the union’s demands on other future contracts.”

BC General Employees’ Union’s (BCGEU) contract with ProTransBC for SkyTrain Canada Line workers expired in December 2023, Unifor’s contract with CMBC for thousands of bus drivers and mechanics will expire in March 2026, and CUPE 7000’s contract with BCRTC for 1,000 SkyTrain workers will expire in August 2028.

All of this is in addition to TransLink’s forecast for a cumulative funding gap of $4.7 billion between 2026 and 2033 due to continued lower fare revenues from enduring pandemic impacts on transportation demand, along with dwindling gas tax revenues due to the accelerating adoption of battery-electric vehicles. This funding gap figure also does not include service level improvements, and any investments in major new and improved transportation infrastructure.

“I’ve got to say now is not the time. And that’s because at TransLink, we are facing a fiscal crisis. I have been transparent with the public over the last year that TransLink is facing a structural deficit,” said Quinn.

“We are feeling system pressures. Our system is already overcrowded, our region is growing, and it is going to get worse.”

In a separate press conference at 2 pm Monday, Liam O’Neill with CUPE 4500 asserted the union’s wage increase request will cost less than an additional 0.05% of TransLink’s annual budget for salary benefits, and that such a move would fix a “longstanding wage discrepancy.”

“We’re not interested in bargaining in the media, and yet Coast Mountain Bus seem more interested in assigning blame and smearing our members. We’ve worked very hard; we just went through over 20 hours of talks with Coast Mountain with the assistance of the mediator, and while we brought solutions and compromise, Coast Mountain Bus simply tried to bully us into accepting their proposals,” said O’Neill.

The union spokesperson further claimed that CMBC’s release of the full breakdown of CUPE 4500’s wage demands and CMBC’s offer — compared with the existing salaries of supervisors — “does not reflect the discussions that happened at the table.”

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%)

O’Neill adds that currently, after the current 48-hour walkout ends in the early morning hours of Wednesday, they plan to temporarily end the shutdown of bus and SeaBus services and return to the previous overtime ban that first began on January 6.

This means CMBC bus and SeaBus services could potentially restart on Wednesday morning, but if an agreement is not reached, there could be another shutdown of services.

“We will continue with our overtime ban, and then if we don’t have a deal, then we’ll have to plan our next escalation. Obviously, there’s going to be an escalation, which will be more than the current one. I’m sure that we will be announcing something at some point.”

CUPE 7000 previously warned its members working on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines that at the earliest legal opportunity, they would join CUPE 4500 members in the picket lines if CUPE 4500 members are able to legally picket outside SkyTrain facilities. This would result in a shutdown of services on the Expo and Millennium lines.

The other separate unions representing workers on SkyTrain Canada Line and West Vancouver Blue Bus have also indicated they will ask their workers to not cross CUPE 4500 picket lines outside Canada Line and Blue Bus facilities.

But this cross-union job action in solidarity is only possible through a chain of cascading events, starting with the BC Labour Relations Board (BCLRB) scheduling a hearing with CUPE 4500 to hear their complaints and application, with the board then siding with CUPE 4500. However, as of early Monday afternoon, BCLRB has yet to schedule a hearing, which may not happen until after Wednesday at the earliest.

In an internal memo to its members on Sunday morning, CUPE 7000 told workers on the Expo and Millennium lines that they could potentially join the picket lines later in the day on Monday.

“[We’re] waiting for that to go through that process. So we can’t really comment on that until the board hearing,” said O’Neill when asked to comment on cross-union job action.

“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.”

You might also like: