Translink inflexibility causes new transit talks to stall

SURREY, BC, Nov. 14, 2019 /CNW/ - Translink's refusal to deal with the key bargaining issues has resulted in the mutual agreement to discontinue contract talks that began again this morning, and a continuation of service disruption for passengers.

"Translink seems content to play games while tens of thousands of transit passengers' lives are impacted daily," said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. "Transit workers want to sign a new contract, but Translink isn't interested in anything remotely fair."

Unifor said on November 12 that, if new talks did not result in progress on the core issues, job action would escalate on Friday, November 15 with a one-day transit operator overtime ban. The union also announced that transit operator overtime bans will continue on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of next week. Further overtime bans could be repeated each week going forward.

"Translink simply doesn't treat its workers fairly. They divide their workers into separate companies and tell skilled trades not to compare their wages with each other. In the employer's mind, a comparison to Toronto's transit system is fine for executive wages, but it's somehow offside for transit operators," said Gavin McGarrigle. "Transit passengers should visit unifor.org/transit and send a message to the CEOs at Translink and Coast Mountain Bus Company."

Unifor published a new video that demonstrates the scheduling challenges that make transit operators regularly miss their breaks.

Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

SOURCE Unifor