National

B.C. HandyDART workers prepare to strike after rejecting contract offer

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Aug, 2024 01:21 PM

The president of the union local for B.C. HandyDART workers says a withdrawal of the transit service is "imminent" as it prepares to serve a 72-hour strike notice.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724 president Joe McCann says members voted down a final contract offer by employer Transdev Canada by an "overwhelming" margin.

We stand in solidarity with our Local 1724-Vancouver, BC, HandyDART members. #ATUStrongerTogether #canlab pic.twitter.com/BbQPqUOKIL
— ATU, Transit Union (@ATUComm) August 24, 2024

"Burnaby, North Vancouver, Langley City, Langley Township and Maple Ridge have all passed resolutions where they’ve called for HandyDART to be brought in-house under TransLink" https://t.co/lWlgUNaByW #bclab #vanpoli
— Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724 (@atu1724) August 27, 2024

McCann says there's still hope for the union and the employer to reach a deal at the bargaining table, but 83 per cent of members voted down the offer after meetings over the weekend and on Monday.

McCann says HandyDART workers want wage parity with other transit staff in the region, and there's a "big disparity."

He says escalating job action wasn't effectively pressuring the employer, and a full work stoppage would still mean that HandyDART users in need of certain medical treatments would be able to book rides with the door-to-door service.

Employer Transdev Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

McCann says it's unfortunate users will be inconvenienced, but Transdev Canada — a private firm contracted by TransLink to operate the accessible bus service — has indicated that it believes HandyDART workers "don't deserve the same wages as a public company."

He says the union believes the service should be taken out of private hands and no longer operated by a for-profit company because of the expected "tsunami" of riders who will need the service in the long term as demographics change.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. woman found dead after alleged abduction, man arrested: RCMP

An RCMP investigation into the alleged abduction of a woman from Lumby, B.C., has turned into a probe of a suspicious death. Mounties say in a statement that officers with the North Okanagan detachment found the woman's body in a rural area on Sunday, and a man believed to have been involved was arrested in the vicinity.

B.C. woman found dead after alleged abduction, man arrested: RCMP

B.C. celebrates 10 billion seedlings planted since 1930

British Columbia officials are celebrating the planting of 10 billion seedlings since reforestation efforts began nearly a century ago. A statement from the Forests Ministry says two billion of those seedlings have been planted in the last seven years.

B.C. celebrates 10 billion seedlings planted since 1930

B.C. home sales slide almost 10 per cent in March despite mortgage rate drop

Home sales in British Columbia fell by almost 10 per cent in March compared with the same period last year, in a slowdown an analyst says could be buyers waiting for lower interest rates. The B.C. Real Estate Association says the province saw 6,460 residential unit sales in the Multiple Listing Service systems last month, a 9.5-per-cent decline from March 2023.

B.C. home sales slide almost 10 per cent in March despite mortgage rate drop

Decades in the making, B.C. signs agreement handing over title to Haida Gwaii

The B.C. government and the Council of Haida Nation have signed an agreement officially recognizing Haida Gwaii's Aboriginal title, more than two decades after the nation launched a legal action seeking formal recognition.

Decades in the making, B.C. signs agreement handing over title to Haida Gwaii

VPD investigate homicide of Chirag Antil

Vancouver police say they're investigating a suspected overnight homicide in the city's south end. Police say they were called to a report of gun shots around 11 p.m. Friday at the intersection of East 55th Avenue and Main Street. They say officers found the body of 24-year-old Chirag Antil in a vehicle.

VPD investigate homicide of Chirag Antil

DNA tests shows B.C. woman was killed by dogs, not bear: coroner's report

A woman killed while picking blueberries on a farm east of Vancouver was initially thought to have died in a bear attack in August 2021, but a newly released coroner's report says she was mauled by dogs from another property. The report says the dogs responsible for the death of 54-year-old Ping (Amy) Guo at a Pitt Meadows farm were only identified after their DNA was tested when another person died 17 months later at the neighbouring home.