One day after the Greater Vancouver Regional District Employee Union (GVRDEU) announced that its workers at 25 regional parks will limit their hours of work to 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., the union escalated their strike action once more.
In a written statement on Sunday, GVRDEU says that all unionized workers at the parks will walk off the job indefinitely.
The strike, impacting services at parks including Grouse Mountain, Capilano Regional Parks, Pacific Spirit Park, and Deas Island Regional Park, started at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday.
In an interview with CityNews, Bill Tieleman, GVRDEU spokesperson, says that the public can expect “inconveniences” at those parks due to the strike.
“Garbage is not being collected in the same regular fashion. I was just at Pacific Spirit Park; the garbage cans were full,” Tieleman said.
“There are also no staff to assist anyone with any issues or questions. Trails that can be in disrepair or have something go wrong, particularly ones like Grouse Grind, there won’t be the staff there with the ability to kind of fix trails and things.”
15 workers will remain at the site for the 25 parks to deliver essential services, as designated by the Labour Relations Board.
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Tieleman says that the unions will not disclose if workers may strike at other worksites in the next days.
However, he notes that strike actions were done at infrastructure sites in the past.
“We have also been out at Metro Vancouver headquarters where the inside workers and staff and management are. So, we’ll see what happens. We don’t want to inconvenience the public, but regrettably sometimes we have to because we just can’t wait forever for a new contract,” Tieleman explained.
He adds that the union decided to escalate strike action yet again to express that workers are angry at Metro Vancouver’s demands at the bargaining table.
The spokesperson says that the employer asked for concessions that are not acceptable.
“They’re not willing to discuss health, safety, recruitment, and retention of skilled workers. We are very concerned about contracting out of members’ jobs to consultants and outside companies, which is in our view more expensive,” Tieleman said.
He hopes that the strike will reach its goal by making the employer come up with a better offer.
“We are saying today if we can’t get an agreement then we will be looking at a full-scale strike indefinitely this time, not a one-day strike,” Tieleman said.
“We want the mayors and councillors on the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors to tell management to get back to the table with a fair and reasonable offer.”
The union criticizes the employer for overpaying managers and elected Board members but underpaying their unionized workers.
“When senior managers are making up to $567,000 a year in salaries and benefits and elected Board members are making over $300,000 a year in total, the workers who actually deliver needed services are fed up,” GVRDEU president Jesse Medeiros said in the statement.
The next mediation session with the Labour Relations Board is scheduled for Saturday, July 11.
GVRDEU is representing more than 600 workers employed by the regional district.
In a written statement to CityNews, Metro Vancouver says that all regional parks remain open to the public during union action.
“Residents will not see changes in the essential services Metro Vancouver provides every day, such as drinking water, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, air quality monitoring, housing, and access to regional parks,” said spokesperson Jillian Glover.
The regional district adds that it has offered the union a wage increase of more than 10 per cent over three years.
Glover also says that Metro Vancouver “is not asking the union for any concessions.”
It argues that the increase is “consistent with other recently negotiated agreements in the region, including with our Teamsters union, and exceeds several other public sector employers.”