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Early this morning Kelowna bus drivers walked off the job in the wake of failed contract negotiations between the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1722 and First Canada.
First Canada is a UK-based company that operates the Kelowna Regional Transit System, on a contract from BC Transit.
According to union representatives, the company is refusing to pay its drivers fairly and not making any effort to negotiate with them in good faith.
The Kelowna Regional Transit System employs 217 people, and about 30 of them were on the picket line at BC Transit headquarters in Kelowna today.
As he stood under the grey sky in a sandwich board, Union Representative Eric Solland said he was feeling “ pretty upbeat.”
He said strikers feel like they’re getting “a lot of support” from the public, and was confident they would be back to work soon.
“I’m looking forward to a phone call late this afternoon,” he said.
The union has been without a contract for more than half a year, and after talks broke down last night there are currently no new negotiations happening.
Solland, who was at the negotiating table with First Canada, said the union “worked late into the night last night to try and get an agreement” last night, but that First Canada wasn’t making any real effort to come an agreement.
Echoing statements made by Union President Scott Lovell earlier this week, Solland said the union isn’t asking for a lot, simply “fair treatment,” but that First Canada refuses to give them that.
First Canada representative Jay Brock wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the contract talks to “preserve the sanctity” of the negotiations, but said the company is “willing to come to the table and have those discussions” necessary to get the busses back on the roads.
He also responded Lovell’s allegations that First Canada’s latest offer was “like a slap in the face.”
“That’s Scott and I guess the union’s point of view, but we’re doing our best to [resolve the issue],” Brock said.
Solland also called out the City of Kelowna and BC Transit for not getting more involved in the strike.
Yesterday, City representative Rafael Villarreal released a statement saying the city “must respect the collective bargaining process and therefore not interfere with, or influence in any way, the negotiations being conducted between First Canada and its employees,” noting that drivers are First Canada employees, not city employees.
Jonathon Dyck. BC Transit’s communications manager, said BC Transit also won’t get involved in the negotiations, other than to provide its riders with service level information.
Solland and Lovell both argue those claims of neutrality aren’t really fair, considering the city sets times and schedules for bus routes, and BC Transit provide the fleet of busses they drive.
While Solland claims to be “upbeat” in the face of the strike, many on the picket line said they were fed up with First Canada.
Few of them spoke to KelownaNow on the record, but much of the conversation amongst the strikers focussed on their less-than-glowing opinions of their bosses.
Many said they don’t feel their contract requests are unreasonable, and that public support shows they are not out of their minds. They say management is only out for its own profits, and not interested in making its employees’ lives any easier.
Mike Vasko, who was stabbed with a needle while on the job in 2013, said drivers often face dangerous situations while out in their buses, and then “we come back and [our bosses are] the first ones to hang you.”
Speaking for himself, and not on behalf of the union, he said his bosses showed little or no respect for him as he was recovering from the attack.
He said he was forced back to work before he felt comfortable returning, and that he had to use vacation time to attend a victim reconciliation meeting with his attacker.
Brock said he couldn’t comment on specific employee complaints but that First Canada has “a strong local management team.”
”Our employees are important to us,” he said. “We appreciate what they do every day.”
Brock also said First Canada is “proud” to be a part of the community, and that “we appreciate how hard this strike is for the citizens who ride our buses.”
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