Day two of transit job action sees more SeaBus sailings cancelled

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Day two of transit job action is forcing TransLink to cancel more SeaBus sailings.

20 sailings for Saturday afternoon have been cancelled, meaning service will be reduced to 30 minutes, instead of 15 minutes, beginning at 4:15 p.m.

Bus drivers and SeaBus operators are continuing to ditch their uniforms while maintenance workers are refusing to do overtime.

Gavin McGarrigle with Unifor says there are no new talks with Coast Mountain Bus Company planned at the moment.

“We reached out and asked them if there had been any change in their mandate to address our issues and we were told that they didn’t see the union’s issues as a basis for settlement,” McGarrigle says.

“So we’re not going to bargain with ourselves and will continue job action until the company gets serious about a fair deal.”

McGarrigle adds the union is prepared to escalate job action, which could include work stoppage.

“There is no question that ultimately the end point for this is going to be a complete shut down of the entire system and our members are prepared to stay out, six months, nine months of the year. As long as it takes,” McGarrigle says.

“These issues are not going away, not this time.”

On Friday, when job action began, TransLink cancelled a third of SeaBus sailings.

Working conditions, pay, and benefits are the main sticking points, with the union claiming the the bus company is failing to address issues but the bus company argues its current offer is fair and includes wage increases of about 10 per cent over the next 4 years.

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