Three-day bus and SeaBus shutdown in Metro Vancouver looms over negotiations

VANCOUVER — The union representing the 5,000 bus and SeaBus workers returned to bargaining with Coast Mountain Bus Company on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to stave off a three-day, full scale bus and SeaBus shutdown.

It was the first time the two sides had met since contract talks broke off for a second time Nov. 14.

The bargaining committee met with Unifor national president Jerry Dias, his assistant Chris MacDonald and the Unifor western regional director Gavin McGarrigle on Tuesday morning before bargaining resumed in the afternoon.

If a tentative deal wasn’t reached before midnight, the planned shutdown of all bus and SeaBus service was to proceed today.

SkyTrain, the Canada Line, West Coast Express, West Vancouver Blue Bus, HandyDart and some community shuttles will still operate normally in the event of a strike, though likely with crowding and delays.

Dias said the union hopes to have “meaningful negotiations” with the objective of reaching a tentative deal.

“I’m here to settle, I’m not here to fight because anybody can fight, so it’s really about finding a collective agreement that everyone can live with,” said Dias.

The shutdown would affect hundreds of thousands in Metro Vancouver. More than 250,000 daily transit journeys — a complete transit trip that could include a number of transfers — use only buses and about 18,000 include a ride on the SeaBus. More than 11,000 people use the SeaBus on a typical fall workday, almost half of whom are North Shore residents.

There are more than 500,000 boardings on the SkyTrain system each day, and more than half of those use bus or SeaBus to get to or from the train.

Bus drivers have refused to wear uniforms every day since Nov. 1 and have refused to work overtime for four days. Maintenance workers have been refusing overtime since Nov. 1. This action has resulted in hundreds of trip cancellations for buses and the SeaBus.