As the deadline for a strike action looms in Metro Vancouver’s ongoing transit supervisor dispute, more than 4,300 people have signed a petition asking for public transit in the region to be designated as an “essential service.”
According to organizer Kevin Neath, who lives in Surrey and commutes to work on the bus daily, public transportation is “not just a convenience but a necessity” for many. His Jan. 22 petition notes that more than 20 per cent of Surrey residents alone use transit for their daily commute, according to the city’s 2018 strategic transportation plan.
“Without buses, I am virtually immobile. This is not just my story but the reality of many citizens in our community who depend on this service every day,” Neath said in the petition.
He and his petition signatories are not alone in wanting the label attached to public transit.
The manager of Metro Vancouver’s transit system has also applied to the B.C. Labour Relations Board to be designated an essential service. In a statement, TransLink said it understands its bus and rail operators, including Coast Mountain Bus Company, have separately sought the same designation.
Opposition Leader Kevin Falcon of BC United has also vouched for the designation.
Last week, Labour Minister Harry Bains said it’s up to the board to decide whether transit is declared essential, and up to individual parties to reach out and make their case for it. It happens all the time during labour disputes, he added.
Coast Mountain’s transit supervisors have said they will strike again if a new contract with the company isn’t reached by midnight on Friday.
On Thursday, CUPE 4500 — which represents more than 180 supervisors — said it had accepted the recommendations of mediator Vince Ready, and urged the bus company to do the same.
A previous two-day strike by the supervisors was able to halt Coast Mountain services because drivers represented by a different union refused to cross picket lines. Tens of thousands of Metro Vancouver commuters were left scrambling to find alternative transportation in the 48-hour period.
While talks with Ready are ongoing, the two sides have also been facing off in labour relations board hearings.
The board said in a Wednesday ruling that Coast Mountain broke labour rules by using replacement workers during the first strike, but the breach was minimal and it declined to award damages or order further investigations.
The union had complained that the bus company used replacement workers during the 48-hour strike that ended Jan. 24.
In its decision, the board said the bus company made “significant efforts” to minimize the breach, and the union even complimented the firm for its handling of replacement worker issues before lodging the complaint.
The board is hearing a separate complaint by CUPE 4500 against Coast Mountain and TransLink that it unfairly tried to reduce the strike’s impact.
The union has said the next strike — if it happens — will last 72 hours, and if the ongoing labour complaint is upheld, pickets will shut down SkyTrain operations too.
A union that represents SkyTrain workers has previously said its members wouldn’t cross pickets.
Coast Mountain provides 96 per cent of all Metro Vancouver Bus services, as well as the SeaBus service across Burrard Inlet.
In Wednesday’s ruling, the board said the bus firm’s breach of replacement worker rules was “understandable in the circumstances.” This was “particularly so” given the size and complexity of the bus firm’s operations, it added, and “the novelty of the particular strike action by the union, which is unprecedented in the history of the collective bargaining relationship between the parties.”
— with files from The Canadian Press’ Ashley Joannou