The central issues in the strike were the employers' drive to hire part-time drivers and to contract out work. The new law continues to permit contracting out. The union, however, has a case before the Labor Relations Board to try to establish that Translink and not its subsidiary, the Coast Mountain Bus Company, is the true employer. If the union wins the case it will be more difficult for the employer to contract out.

A joint union-management committee will be set up in an effort to reach an agreement on the introduction of part-time work. If there is no agreement the question will go to binding arbitration to be settled by the end of this year. The workers will get an 8.5 percent wage increase over three years and a $1,000 signing bonus.

On the issues of part-time work and wages, the law implements a mediator's report that CAW union members accepted June 19 by a 90 percent majority. Coast Mountain refused to accept the mediator's proposal. From that point on it became clearer who was responsible for the transit service being shut down.

Commenting on the end of the strike and the government's decision on the contract, Ruth Ritchey, a CAW picket captain and bus driver, said, "It's favorable. They recognized that the mediator's recommendations are viable and need to go to committee." James Johnson, who was part of the union hardship committee at the Oakridge Center thought the outcome was not good. "We were legislated back to work with the same report as [mediator] Vince Ready proposed on June 14. We were out for seven weeks for nothing," he said.

Ritchey thought the government intervention was necessary in this situation because "Translink is unaccountable and the public was being held ransom." Johnson explained that many of the unionists are short of money and some lost their homes. "There is a bitter taste in terms of the attitude of the company. We will go out again if we have to," he remarked. According to Ritchey, "The drivers are united as a stronger force and loyalty to the company has waned."

The union received $94,000 in donations from unions across the country during the strike. The transit workers organized several rallies and took their case to the Translink Board and City Council in an effort to win public support.

In the case of the OPEIU, the law imposes 30 days of negotiations after which if there is no agreement the contract will go to binding arbitration or will be imposed directly by the government.

The leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in British Columbia, Joy MacPhail, said she was happy with the law but that the government could have ended the bus strike weeks ago. The NDP is a social democratic party based on the unions.

This is the second time the newly elected provincial Liberal government has implemented back-to-work legislation here. The Liberals won 77 out of 79 seats on May 16. The other two seats are held by the NDP.  
 
Antistrike moves against HSA, nurses
The first time the provincial legislature voted on an anti-strike law was June 20. It imposed a 60-day cooling-off period on 23,000 nurses and members of the Health Sciences Association (HSA) who are both fighting for a new contract. The law imposed an end to the nurses' overtime ban and put an end to the HSA strike that had begun the day before.

On August 9, for a third time the Liberal government adopted a law imposing a contract on nurses and the members of the HSA. The HSA organizes 11,000 X-ray technicians, physiotherapists, pharmacists and other professionals. The law incorporates the latest proposals from the employers, which the nurses had rejected by 96 percent. Under the imposed settlement, nurses will receive wage increases of 23.5 percent over three years. Health Sciences workers were given increases of 5.5 percent to 14.25 percent, also over three years.

On August 8 and the following day hundreds of nurses at hospitals and health-care centers held a job action, not officially called by the union, to express their anger at the government's forced settlement. According to the British Columbia Nurses' Union, 5,000 nurses have signed letters of resignation.
 
 
Related article:
Striking Canada refinery workers reject concessions  
 
 
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