Metro Vancouver transit bus operators have voted to reject a tentative deal their union had reached with the Coast Mountain Bus Company.
Unifor Locals 111 and 2200 say in a statement on Tuesday that members are “not rushing to job action” after the rejection, and the unions will work on the changes their members want to see in the tentative agreement.
1130 NewsRadio obtained the results of the vote. 66.2 per cent of the about 5,000 transit workers voted against the agreement while 33.8 per cent voted in favour.
Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor’s western regional director, says it is working directly with members, negotiators and the employer in an effort to “win the changes” that bus operators want.
“We heard about everything from violence in the workplace to assaults on transit operators to better access to facilities,” he told 1130 NewsRadio.
“So we really need to sit down and, and drill that right down into actual facts and figures and, and make sure that we we push harder on those key concerns. Our members gave us a lot of feedback yesterday, and we’re going to take that feedback and, and make sure that we push to get that contract that they’ve told us that they need.”
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The two sides had announced on June 22 that a tentative deal had been reached to avoid a possible strike involving member workers of Coast Mountain, which operates more than 96 per cent of Metro Vancouver’s bus services.
The workers had voted 99 per cent in favour of authorizing strike action in May after months of bargaining.
“Members delivered a strong strike mandate earlier this round, and that mandate remains in place,” McGarrigle says in a statement.
In a written statement to 1130 NewsRadio, the employer says that it acknowledges that the tentative agreement has not been ratified by union members in Unifor Locals 111 and 2200.
– With files from The Canadian Press.