Coast Mountain Bus union issues strike notice, warns of job action in Metro Van

If you rely on transit to get around, there are warnings about looming job action affecting Metro Vancouver’s buses.

One of the unions representing Coast Mountain Bus Company workers issued 72 hour strike notice Wednesday morning, setting up possible job action to start at 8 a.m. Saturday.

CUPE Local 4500, which represents about 180 supervisors, says that will be in the form of an overtime ban affecting operations across Coast Mountain.

Coast Mountain Bus Company President Michael McDaniel tells CityNews he doesn’t anticipate impacts on service at this point, but the union paints a different picture.

“One of our issues we are trying to have the employer address is staffing problems. There’s an excessive workload issue that can really only be solved by increasing the staffing. You’ll most likely see that by simply removing overtime from the arsenal of how the employer deals with their staffing issues that it will have an effect,” said CUPE 4500 national representative Liam O’Neill.

“We suspect it won’t have a huge effect, but you will definitely notice buses not in service or running late. From the public’s point of view, if they are used to certain buses arriving at a certain time, they’ll probably notice that’s not happening because there will a number of buses that won’t make it to service as a result of this.”

And O’Neill warns job action could escalate if the impasse at the bargaining table continues.

“If the employer refuses to address our key issues, we will have no choice but to progress this to the point where — at some point — we will likely have to reduce services.”

The union is upping the ante after mediated talks broke off Tuesday with no solid plans to return to the bargaining table.

“We had two days scheduled but it was pretty clear at the end of a long day that the employer wasn’t going to be addressing our issues,” O’Neill told CityNews.

“It was basically mutually agreed that there’s no use in meeting anymore. The employer wasn’t going to move and was showing zero flexibility.”

O’Neill says the union is ready to return to the table should the employer “show the same willingness to negotiate that we have.”

McDaniel says Coast Mountain Bus Company has offered CUPE 4500 the same general wage increase that was already agreed to by all other employees.

“This offer is consistent with other public sector settlements in British Columbia. We urge the union to return to the bargaining table to finalize a deal,” said the company president.

The last collective agreement between Coast Mountain Bus Company and CUPE 4500 expired at the end of 2022.

The union says it represents Coast Mountain transit supervisors, maintenance supervisors, service supervisors, tireperson 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 staff.