Transit strike day 6: No talks since Wednesday

Today marked day six of the transit strike in Kelowna and members of Local 1722 of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) were once again out picketing.

They started the day on the pedestrian overpass on Harvey Ave., near the Parkinson Rec Center and by noon they were in front of city hall with picket signs, handing out literature with some further information on the strike.

The literature outlines the union’s core issues, which includes issues with the tiered wage system, a lack of retirement package, and something called ‘a bus is a bus’, explained by union president Scott Lovell.

“We’ve spent thousands of dollars on our licensing, to get our class of license to be able to drive the big busses. In Kelowna, we use two main types of busses for conventional service. We use a 40-foot bus and what’s known as a community bus. The community bus does not require our class of license. For years, there’s always been this divide and when we drive community busses we get paid about four dollars less an hour. In Victoria, as of April 1st this year, they allow operators there to have that equality.”

Lovell brings up Victoria as the example because the province’s capital city has the only transit system in B.C. that isn’t run by a third party like First Canada, a division of a company based out of Scotland.

This means a couple of things. First, the tax dollars spent by citizens of Kelowna on transit do not stay in the community. Second, the feedback that passengers may have with the transit system or a specific bus driver do not go to the union, they go to First Canada and have to make their way through the system from there.

“Sometimes there are bad interactions with passengers for a multitude of reasons and we get a bad rap,” says Lovell. “So one of the things we’ve been trying to do is have more community involvement directly with those groups, but the company, city, and BC Transit in particular have always had a buffer there.”

The literature handed out by the union also states that they apologize for any disruption and inconvenience that this may cause, but ask for support and patience through this process.

On the other side of the dispute, First Canada confirmed that there have been no talks with the union since Nov. 9, but maintain that their latest offer is a strong one.

“We delivered what we thought was a strong offer on Wednesday the ninth, which included wage increases and some other items that the union had asked for, so we’re ready and willing to be at the table and continue discussion with them,” said First Canada representative Jay Brock.

Brock also added that the company appreciates how difficult this strike is for the community and the impact that it has over people’s lives.

“We completely respect and understand that. We hire local, we’ve got a great local team there, we’re proud of everything our employees do everyday, but we really have to reach a decision on this that works for both parties so that we can both win in this.”