"Part-timers and contracting out are questions that are sacrosanct," one striker said on the picket line. If the company starts to hire temporary workers or is allowed to contract out routes, "it will have an effect on workers in the industry as a whole," he said.

Some 3,300 transit workers, members of the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW) and the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), have been on strike here since April 1 against Coast Mountain Bus Company, a subsidiary of TransLink. Bus drivers and mechanics organized by the CAW set up pickets alongside office workers, who are members of the OPEIU.

The big-business media is aiding the employers with articles such as a column by Fred McMahon in the Vancouver Sun. "British Columbia unions," he wrote, "just keep escalating their militancy. They claim to help the average worker, but their strategy might well be summed up as: 'Make the poor pay.'" McMahon urged the government to "consider eliminating the right to strike in the public sector, increasing the ability of companies to bring in replacement workers, and enacting 'right-to-work' legislation, among other measures."

Despite this campaign, many people honk their horns in support as they pass the picket line. Provincial government employees at Translink headquarters have refused to cross the picket line. There have been rallies in support of the strike, including one on April 11 at the Oakridge Transit Centre of 150 people.

Workers at SeaBus succeeded in stopping efforts to start up service during the strike by using canoes and small boats to block yachts owned by private companies. The CAW has begun publishing a daily strike journal and is organizing rallies, leafleting, and ads in the local media to thank the public for its support and distribute information about the strike.

Gabriel Charbin is a meat packer and Carlos Cornejo is a garment worker.
 
 
Related article:
Contract ends lockout at Vancouver meat plant  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home