Kelowna’s public transit workers have issued 72 hour strike notice.
Local Union president Al Peressini says expect the union to act quickly.
“We’ll be in a legal strike position on Thursday at one o’clock to take job action or strike action, whatever we want. We’ll do some sort of job action but a full blown strike is not on the table at this times.”
The membership voted 97 percent in favor of job action.
Contract talks have gone nowhere since bargaining began back in February.
The contract expired at the end of March.
Peressini says wages and benefits are a major issue.
“They offered 1.5 percent, 1.5 percent and 2 percent. So it’s not even anywhere near the cost of living. The cost of living in Kelowna has skyrocketed. We’re the fastest growing city in the country.”
The last time there was a transit strike in Kelowna was in 2016.
That one lasted 13 days.
—
Pushed to the brink by First Transit Canada’s refusal to negotiate a contract for fair wages, cost of living allowance, and improved health and safety measures, Kelowna Regional Transit workers have overwhelmingly voted in favor of going on strike. In an unprecedented turnout, 97% approved a strike if necessary.
“Wages and benefits are so low that the company cannot retain or recruit qualified workers. An underfunded transit system means poor service for riders and poor conditions for workers. Service routes are being suspended and routes are being canceled daily,” said Al Peressini, President of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1722, representing Kelowna Regional Transit workers. “Community members who rely on HandyDart transportation are requesting rides and being rejected because we don’t have enough staff. We are overworked, and fed up with a private company that squeezes millions of dollars of profit out of tax-payer-funded public transit.”
Kelowna’s public transit is contracted out by the City of Kelowna and the Province of BC to the corporation, First Transit, which is owned by the multi-billion-dollar Swedish Hedge Fund, EQT. At the bargaining table the regional manager of First Transit Canada responded to the union’s suggestion that the company needs to make its employees happier by saying:
“Happy workers don’t make me any more money.”
“This comment by First Transit Canada is an insult to our members who have put their lives on the line every day for the past two years of the pandemic to keep Kelowna moving,” said ATU International President John Costa. “First Transit doesn’t care about their riders and workers. All it cares about is making a profit on the backs of its employees. The result is a transit system that isn’t working, riders being stranded, and a city suffering. This overwhelming strike vote sends a strong message: It’s time for First Transit to come to the table and give our members the fair and just contract that they deserve.”
Greater Kelowna is the fastest growing urban center in Canada with an incredibly high cost of living. Transit requires highly trained, skilled, and caring staff. First Transit is offering wages that amount to an economic rollback, unsafe, exhausting works schedules, and precarity. The company has been stalling at the bargaining table since negotiations began in February 2022. The contract expired in March.
The Union is also calling on the City of Kelowna and the Province of BC to take responsibility for the corporation that they have chosen to contract with.
