Buses line the Vancouver Transit Centre as transit workers from the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4500 strike in Vancouver, B.C., Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Bus and SeaBus services in Metro Vancouver are set to resume this morning after the end of a 48-hour strike by supervisors that ground Coast Mountain Bus Company routes to a standstill. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
VANCOUVER – Bus and SeaBus services in Metro Vancouver have resumed this morning after the end of a 48-hour strike by supervisors that ground Coast Mountain Bus Company routes to a standstill.
Regional transport operator TransLink says regular services had resumed by around 4 a.m. with the exception of the NightBus service that returns this evening.
The union representing more than 180 transit supervisors had said they would be back at work by 3 a.m. and Coast Mountain said it expected services to be running normally before the morning rush hour.
While it’s back to work this morning, there’s no resolution in sight for the contract dispute behind the shutdown that the bus company says affected 300,000 riders each day.
Talks between the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4500 and Coast Mountain broke down on Sunday.
The bus company says the union is demanding a 25 per cent pay rise and says that’s unreasonable, while the union says Coast Mountain tried to bully it in the negotiations.
No date has been set for the resumption of negotiations, but B.C.’s Labour Minister Harry Bains said Monday he was considering appointing a special mediator to find a way through the impasse.
The strike by the transit supervisors had halted Coast Mountain services because drivers who belong to a different union refused to cross picket lines.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 24, 2024.
