B.C. urges transit union, employer to get back to bargaining to end strike

With a 48-hour transit strike halting bus and SeaBus service in Metro Vancouver as of Monday, the B.C. government is urging the union and employer to get back to the bargaining table right away to mitigate any further impact.

B.C. Labour Minister Harry Bains says it’s disappointing that weekend mediation was not able to result in a deal.

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“People across Metro Vancouver count on reliable transit to get them back to work, to work, to school and to travel to deal with their daily necessities of life,” he said Monday.

“We have reached out to both the employer and the union today to urge them both to get back to the bargaining table without delay and also to get involved in good-faith bargaining to hammer out an agreement to deal with their differences. Not having transit service is a huge challenge for the people who rely on transit.

“We know the pathway for resolving this dispute. That is that the parties have to work out their differences at the bargaining table.”

Members of CUPE 4500, which represents about 180 transit supervisors at Coast Mountain Bus Company, walked off the job as of 3 a.m. Monday, halting all bus and SeaBus services.

This came after a weekend of negotiations, with Vince Ready serving as mediator.

While the strike is set for 48 hours, CUPE 4500 spokesperson Liam O’Neill didn’t rule out further action after this period. In an update Monday afternoon, he said in addition to an overtime ban, the union would look at “an escalation” in the absence of a deal.

Bains would not provide a timeline as to when the province would step in. However, he says the B.C. government does have tools at its disposal, should they be required.

One option would be to appoint a special mediator — something that has been used in other labour disputes. This would allow for the mediator to make recommendations that would be made public. But Bains says this will only work if both parties agree to go this route.

Another would be for the province to mandate binding arbitration. However, Bains would not say whether this was being considered at this time.

“I’m not at the table. How far apart are they? But I do know one thing is that the parties need to get back to the bargaining table. That’s where the agreement needs to be negotiated, because that’s the best agreement that can be negotiated when both parties agree on terms, agree on their needs. And that is the best and the long-lasting agreement,” the labour minister said.

“Like I said, we do have the option to appoint someone as a special mediator who could help them in dealing with the differences that they may have and conclude the negotiations.”

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Bains also would not say whether the province was considering back-to-work legislation should the strike drag on.

“It is always important that parties agree to the mediation, agree to a special mediator, agree with the process. Otherwise, (there’s) no point bringing the parties together if they are not, if one or both are not agreeing to that process. So … we are continuing to have that discussion with both parties, make sure they agree, and then we will move in that direction, if I need to be,” he added.

O’Neill said an hour prior that the union had “put in a solid effort to try to find compromise,” but that Coast Mountain Bus Company rejected CUPE 4500’s proposals for compromise and solutions.

“There is a long-standing wage discrepancy that we’re trying to fix. In TransLink, our members do the same work as other supervisors in TransLink, and yet, they’re paid less. We need to fix that wage discrepancy and we’re trying to do that,” he said.

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However, TransLink CEO Kevin Quinn says the employer had also been “working hard to reach a compromise.”

“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,” Quinn said just after noon.

According to Quinn, the 13.5 per cent wage increase offered to CUPE 4500 members was accepted by all other CMBC unions in B.C.

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