Unifor, the union representing bus operators and transit maintenance workers, says the plan to relax COVID-19 restrictions in B.C. is incomplete without restored public transit service.
“Reliable and safe public transit should be at the core of any plan to get the economy kick-started,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “TransLink has brought Metro Vancouver to the brink of transit chaos with layoff notices effective May 18. Those notices must be rescinded immediately to help transition the Lower Mainland economy back to health.”On April 20, nearly 1,200 Coast Mountain Bus Company workers received notice of layoff effective May 18. Since then, the union has fought the layoffs, and hosted a 'virtual rally' on April 25. The union states that urban transit systems are a vital link in the pandemic response, and an important part of fighting the spread of COVID-19 on a daily basis. In Vancouver alone, they state that roughly 50,000 essential service workers regularly rely on public transit to get to work.
“Instead of respecting their employees and communicating well, we’ve seen misinformation and dismissing standard labour code provisions,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor’s Western Regional Director. “TransLink should rescind the notices and sit down with the union to discuss how we can all work together to maintain the transit system. When the notices are rescinded, we will sit down with them immediately to begin work on a plan.”When CMBC workers first received the layoff notice, Unifor stated that the lay-off threats had the union concerned about more crowding, making social distancing on transit more difficult. What's more, they say that reduced bus capacity is already leading to physical distancing violations and abuse of transit operators.
Unifor Locals 111 and 2200 charge that the layoff notices have not met the minimum required notice for layoffs under the BC Labour Relations Code and have filed a complaint to the provincial labour relations board. Unifor adds, "that senior management at CMBC has moved to punish workers for going to the labour board by withdrawing offers to cover the cost of benefit coverage for the laid off frontline workers."
“When presented with an opportunity to do the right thing, they played games, didn’t communicate well and tried to gut the labour code provisions instead of treating the COVID heroes who maintain the transit system with the respect they deserve,” added McGarrigle.
Last month, TransLink announced that it is losing $75 million per month with ridership down by 83%. As a result, it states that it will issue temporary layoff notices to 1,492 employees. These employees work in various positions at TransLink, Coast Mountain Bus Company, and British Columbia Rapid Transit Company.
TransLink also announced a number of other cost-cutting measures including temporary route suspensions and frequency reductions across their bus service.
Many of those reductions remain slated to take effect on May 18.
This will see 41 routes suspended, in addition to the 18 routes which were suspended in April, and six suspended in early May. Frequency will be reduced on most remaining bus routes.
With this in mind, the transportation agency announced Monday that it will resume fare collection on all buses, along with front-door boarding, starting June 1.
TransLink says they have come up with a way to protect bus drivers on all vehicles in their fleet, in order to allow passengers to be in close proximity as they board and deposit their payment or tap their Compass card.
- With files from Lindsay William-Ross.
