TransLink CEO shuts down public bargains, defends overtime

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The head of TransLink is refusing to publicly negotiate a resolution to the ongoing transit strike.

As the transit strike continues disrupting services, CEO Kevin Desmond insists the available money is limited and union wage demands must come down.

“I’m convinced we will be able to bridge the gap and the best way to do that is to get to the table and bargain hard –on both sides,” he explains, adding the gap on wage demands can be bridged if Unifor and Coast Mountain Bus Company negotiators are willing to resume bargaining.

“We have to bargain this. We have to do something that, at the end of the day, is affordable and we have to make sure that taxpayers believe we’re providing good value for money. It would be a pity if we had to –in effect– rob Peter to pay Paul and it would cost even more money at greater disruption to fix a problem that should have been taken care of through good, preventive maintenance. That costs money.”

He also defends the need for overtime saying it’s needed to keep service on schedule.


“Is it sustainable? Yes. Every transit agency I’m familiar with has that balance of overtime. I don’t have a stat for you on how much overtime. I’d say it’s a large minority of the pay that we make –that we provide to our employees,” Desmond says. “If we miss some trips if someone calls in sick and we have to bring in someone from home, they might make overtime. They might make un-scheduled overtime to do the work. Similar on maintenance.”

He adds the cost of public transit would increase if overtime wasn’t an option, especially with a shortage of maintenance workers.

“Some of it on the maintenance side is a little bit of a shortage of trade workers, that’s also endemic of our trade society. It’s not just here in Vancouver that we’re seeing that.”

This comes after Desmond was telling local business leaders about TransLink expansion plans which include eventually expanding SkyTrain service to the Fraser Valley.

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