Park and ride lots at the Moody Centre and Coquitlam City Centre SkyTrain and West Coast Express stations seemed busier than usual as commuters in the Tri-Cities scrambled to get around without buses Monday.
Unionized supervisors for the Coast Mountain Bus Company walked off the job early Monday morning, the first of two days of job action planned to bolster their demands for a new contract with their employer.
Picket lines were set up in front of the Port Coquitlam Transit Centre with several striking workers huddled in portable tents to stay dry in a steady rain.
Their numbers were swelled by supporters from other unions like MoveUp.
Busy bus malls at the SkyTrain and West Coast Express stations, where commuters transfer from the rail services to buses for the final leg of their journey to their destinations, were largely deserted.
In anticipation of Monday’s job action, which commenced at 3 a.m. Monday morning after a last-ditch mediation effort broke down, the City of Port Moody said it would dispatch crews to the city’s two SkyTrain stations to clean up any residual snow and ice still around from last week’s winter storm.
Douglas College advised students that classes and activities at its Coquitlam campus would continue as scheduled despite the disruption to transit services.
But, it added in a statement on its website, that could change if the strike continues beyond Tuesday.
“We understand that many employees and students depend on transit to get to campus,” said the statement. “As much as possible, we encourage those who rely on transit service to explore other options for their commutes for the next two days.”
In a statement, CUPE Local 4500 that represents the 180 striking supervisors said the union and company remain far apart despite mediation.
“We are still not near where we need to be in addressing our key issues,” said CUPE 4500 spokesperson Liam O’Neill.
"For a fair settlement, CUPE 4500 members need wage discrepancies closed between them and other TransLink supervisors, and we need to tackle critical workload issues.”
Meanwhile, the company blamed the union’s intransigence at the bargaining table for the strike.
“The union representing supervisors at CMBC has refused to adjust its demand for wage increases that are more than the wage increases accepted by all other unions at CMBC and countless other public sector employees.”
Kevin Quinn, the CEO of TransLink, said his company is caught in the middle.
“Every day nearly 300,000 Metro Vancouverites rely on our bus and SeaBus network to get them around the region — to work, school, daycare drop-offs, medical appointments. And right now, that system is unable to do its job,” he said in a statement released Monday afternoon.
