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 – The Labour Relations Board has scheduled hearings today and tomorrow in the industrial dispute that paralyzed Metro Vancouver bus services this week.
Bus and SeaBus services resumed this morning after the end of the 48-hour strike by more than 180 transit supervisors represented by Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4500.
The labour board’s website lists hearings for a case between Coast Mountain Bus Company and the union at the board’s office in downtown Vancouver.
The union filed a complaint that Coast Mountain tried to reduce the impact of the strike, and if it is upheld CUPE 4500 could be allowed to picket additional sites such as SkyTrain stations.
That would shut down the rail service, according to CUPE Local 7000, which represents SkyTrain workers.
Regional transport operator TransLink says Coast Mountain’s services had resumed by around 4 a.m. with the exception of the NightBus service that returns this evening.
CUPE 4500 had said members 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.
Talks between the union 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.
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 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.
