Metro Van transit negotiations resume in effort to avoid full shutdown

Whether or not there will be another transit shutdown in Metro Vancouver could rest on how negotiations play out over the coming days.

Union representatives and their employer returned to talks Thursday with the support of special mediator Vince Ready, who was appointed to the role by the province on Wednesday.

At the time, B.C. Labour Minister Harry Bains said starting Jan. 25, Ready will work with CUPE 4500 and Coast Mountain Bus Company “for a period of up to six days to secure a resolution.”

If a deal isn’t reached in that time, Ready has been directed to issue non-binding recommendations on Feb. 2, after which the union and CMBC will have five days to either accept or reject those proposals.

This comes after 180 transit supervisors represented by CUPE 4500 walked off the job at 3 a.m., starting a 48-hour work stoppage halting buses and SeaBuses in the region.

CUPE 4500 said it welcomes the appointment of a special mediator. However, the union warned on Wednesday that if a tentative agreement wasn’t reached by 12:01 a.m. Feb. 3, members would be “withdrawing services for 72-hours.”

If the Labour Relations Board permits, CUPE 4500 says its strike escalation will “effectively shut down all buses, the SeaBus, and all SkyTrain lines for three days.”

The Labour Relations Board began hearing the union’s petition to expand picketing sites to include other TransLink locations, including SkyTrain stations, on Wednesday. Other hearings were scheduled for Thursday and Monday.

Wages remain a key topic of contention between both sides. CUPE 4500 has argued its members “do the same work as other supervisors in TransLink, and yet, they’re paid less.”

TransLink has refuted this claim, saying CMBC supervisors and SkyTrain supervisors are “two very different positions.”