Metro Vancouver transit operators to take strike vote
 

If these guys strike I wonder how long it'd be before they're begging to go back to work? It's not cheap to live here, miss a pay cheque and you're that much closer to living on the streets.


Metro Vancouver transit operators to take strike vote - British Columbia - CBC News

Bus drivers, SeaBus workers and other Metro Vancouver transit operators are taking a strike vote after the collapse of contract talks, according to Unifor, the union representing 4,700 transit workers.

The strike vote is scheduled for April 28.

"Drivers deserve fair wages and working conditions — so to demand bus drivers take concessions when they have some of the toughest jobs around is simply insulting," said Unifor Local 111 president Nathan Woods.

The union says talks began, Feb. 17, and broke off April 6 after Coast Mountain Bus Company, a TransLink subsidiary, "continued to demand concessions and refused to table a fair wage offer."

Woods says wages, benefits and working conditions are key issues at the bargaining table, as well as concerns about contracting out of service workers and maintenance staff.

Wages for transit operators currently start at $19.57 an hour and top out at $30.91 within two years of employment, which Woods said is a lower wage than other workers in similar positions in B.C.

The vote affects bus drivers, mechanics, SeaBus operators as well as maintenance and other support workers.

"We can still get an agreement without any service disruption if CMBC comes back to the table with a fair wage increase and without unfair concession demands," Woods said.

The Coast Mountain Bus Company says it has been "working hard" with the unions to renew the collective agreement.

The company said it would not be commenting any further in order to "protect the integrity of the process."

Any potential strike action would not affect SkyTrain service.

The last transit operators strike in Vancouver was in 2001. It lasted four months.

Nice.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TACa9mExYFI/maxresdefault.jpg

to pick up the chicks at the bus stop

Give me a break unions...30$/hr to drive and deal the public is very well compensated in my opinion....

Bus Driver Salary (Canada)

toughest jobs around? please

i'm not saying it's an easy job, then again most jobs aren't.

$30/h + union + benefits within 2 yrs for something that doesn't require education sounds like a good deal.

they totally do not deserve any raises after seeing this video


ur freaking job is to drive a bus from point A to point B and u managed to fuck it up...

Soon. :)

A quick google search shows that current long haul driving positions (Class 1 required) pay from 25 to 35 an hour.

Why do transit operators believe they should be paid more than these drivers?

A 2nd year apprentice tradesperson (a position which requires around the equivalent experience to max the transit operators salary) currently makes around 24-27 an hour. A journeyman makes 30-35 (after 4-5 years of work and school). This is all for in town jobs, and depends on your union or Labor association. Why do bus drivers, a position which requires ZERO investment in schooling, or training believe they deserve to be paid more than tradespeople. Also I'd argue that driving a bus is a lot less physically tolling and damaging than working from steel, around heavy machinery or welding, although I'm sure there is some bus driver out there who will complain about how physically damaging it is sitting in a seat all day just like how every 9-5 office worker does.

Instead of arguing about how they make more than other jobs which require skills, how about using that argument to raise their own wages as well? Feels like a race to the bottom these days. $30 an hour isn't fuck all anymore.

So let this be a lesson for our upcoming generation.

When aspiring what you want to be when you grow up, don't aspire which field best matches your personal interest, aspire which field has the best union representation :)


i kid.

easier said than done, esp if you're not in an union.

is $30/h a lot in Vancouver? no

$30 with benefits? not bad

is it very fair for position that requires zero education and isn't physically taxing? I think so...but I can't say for sure unless I've tried it myself. All I know was in grade 11 a classmate was already an operator at that age (possibly community shuttles). But yyou have to deal with bums and shitty customers? which applies to a wide range of minimum wage jobs. The only real risk I can think of is getting assaulted by riders and quite rare...but should that be reflected in a wage?

They have not striked for 15 years so if it they vote for one I can understand. Just that the union statement above (like many union reps) is borderline comical.

How bout them getting to the bus stops on time ffs.

All I'm saying is in a time where things are more expensive than ever, we shouldn't be bitching about someone making a decent living wage, we should be fighting for more people to have that opportunity. You shouldn't need a degree to put a roof over your head.

I've heard this "race to the bottom" line before, I believe the last person to use it was multicartual.

The thing is this, and I struck the exact same defensive position for the teachers strike. If people thought the wage for the position was not enough, they wouldn't be looking for employment in that position, they would look elsewhere for work. And yet just like the teachers, there is a waitlist in order to become a translink driver. There are vastly more people willing, capable and qualified to do the job than there is positions available to fill.

That indicates to me that there is a discrepancy between the wage and the actual difficulty of the position trying to be filled.

The thing with unions is that they use their numbers to bully employers and artificially drive their wages up past the market equilibrium point. Normally I don't care whatsoever, but once it becomes a union of civil servants, for which my taxes directly go towards paying (my already steep taxes), then my opinion on the matter starts to grow.

I encourage everyone who is frustrated by their high level of taxes think about where this extra money for these bus drivers is going to come from when they defend the position of those transit unions. If your willing to take another hike in translinks prices, and a hike in your taxes to pay for their raises, then that's one thing, but more than likely your not going to want to do that. So then where would you like this money to come from? Would you like to see some taken away from our schools? Our hospitals? Perhaps you believe our MP's get paid too much (Probably true)?

meme beat me to it

Why is there wait lists for those jobs even though they don't pay enough? Probably because what is the alternative? There aren't enough high paying jobs to go around so you're forced to take an "okay" paying job with hopes that one day it could become better paying. It's not like people are turning down all these 100k a year jobs to become a bus driver, it's that or minimum wage or lifting heavy boxes for 15 bucks and hour.

How about they properly implement compass like octopus and charge people per stop to give themselves a raise and charge those who are actually using the system?
How about instead of having a dumbass screen that shows everyone inline behind you how much balance u have left u do it octopus style facing down up so only the person scanning can see it?

Just an FYI, cause a lot of people are under the impression that the drivers are looking for higher wages. The drivers and the Union are NOT looking for a wage increases, they are trying to fend off a wage cut. Now i'm sure most of us on here would defend our positions as well if our employer(s) approached us and said they want us to take a 10% pay cut.

And full disclosure, my father is a translink bus driver.

Pretty safe to say no one in here would take a wage cut laying down. But when it happens to other people and tax money pays for it that's fine cut away.

$31/hr within 2 years seems like a stupendously good deal for someone without any form of post-secondary education as a job requirement. In my opinion, even at $20-23/hr driving a bus seems well paid. I would dare the union to try for a strike because it would only shoot itself in the foot because the general public is probably not on its side.

Go look at the long shoreman wages if you think this Union is good

How many long shoreman versus transit bus drivers though? Just the 99 B-line to UBC alone probably has enough driver to match the amount of long shoreman.

There are tons of long shoreman I'm not sure of the numbers but I wouldn't be shocked if it tops bus drivers

the person who designed those gates needs to be shot. Why in the fucking fuck do we need big LCD screens to show a damn number? AND FACING HORIZONTAL TOO

and the fucking gates themselves, we're not fucking horses waiting to start at a racetrack, just put damn turnstiles in

fyi there are about 3000 longshoremen in BC
to 4700 translink workers that might potentially go on strike

hard to compare the two seeing as you basically have to be related to a longshoreman or be part of an affiliated gang to get in


sauce:
Hard Work, Big Gains for Young Union Worker | The Tyee
Metro Vancouver transit workers to vote on strike | CTV Vancouver News