Striking Metro Vancouver outside workers have changed their tactics Wednesday.
Workers have walked off the job and started picketing at five operation centres. Meanwhile, employees have returned to working at five wastewater treatment plants and other facilities across the regional district after a walkout Monday.
Greater Vancouver Regional District Employees’ Union (GVRDEU) officially filed a 72-hour strike notice with the BC Labour Relations Board last week after bargaining with its employer reportedly reached an impasse.
The strike officially began Sunday, with the union warning that outside workers would begin taking job action, starting with a ban on overtime work until further notice.
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Though temporary, GVRDEU President Jesse Medeiros describes Wednesday’s action as an escalation, and says it will continue, including the possibility of a “full-scale” strike.
Medeiros says action won’t stop “until Metro Vancouver management gets back to the bargaining table without preconditions and reaches a new contract that addresses health and safety, contracting out and recruitment and retention issues important to the union.”
The strike Wednesday affects the following facilities:
“We do not want to be on strike, and we do not want to escalate job action, but we will do what is necessary to get a new contract for our members,” said Medeiros, adding that he expects Metro Vancouver’s Board of Directors to demand that management return to bargaining immediately at their next meeting Friday.
The union says the ban on overtime, standby, and acting-role work will continue.