LABOR

ICTU escalates ‘unstrike’

This week and next, a series of job actions by the Independent Canadian Transit Union will mark an 1 1-week old “unstrike”. that has as much to do with threatened cutbacks to Vancouver and Victoria’s tran- sit systems as it does with wages and work- ing conditions.

Bus drivers in Greater Victoria and Van- couver Tuesday parked their vehicles for an hour, Starting at 3 p.m., in the latest

“unstrike” action. Thursday, buses will again stop between the hours of 7 and 8 a.m.

On Wednesday, the action escalates with a 24-hour shutdown of transit services as ICTU members press home their anger at the Metro Transit Operating Company after working more than one year without a collective agreement.

During that time there has been no pro- gress made in talks marked by the com- pany’s insistence on eight key concessions. Negotiations broke off weeks ago after government mediator Dave Mclntrye booked out.

A key issue in the deadlock is Metro Transit’s insistence that the union accept for negotiation the idea of instituting part-time drivers, which ICTU officials call the “hid- den way” to introduce cutbacks in route service.

MTOC — the operations branch of B.C. Transit, the Socred-created crown corpora- tion which holds the purse strings — insists that part-time drivers are needed to staff extra buses during “peak” periods such as the four to six rush hours each ‘each day.

ICTU counters by noting that some 40 .

per cent of drivers are already in effect part-

time drivers. They work their 7'-hours.

each day in a split shift that spreads over a 12-hour period. ~

The operators therefore divide their day between “base service” runs and rush hour service; since they are full-time employees, it is in the company’s economic interests to employ the drivers during regular hours on base service routes —- to which B.C. Tran- sit wants to make even further cutbacks.

<It’s_also in the company’s economic interest to employ on base service routes the ‘12 per cent of the driver workforce on the “spare board.” Spare board drivers operate buses for special events such as hockey games, although the union points that this service is also drastically understaffed. ICTU also warns that part-time drivers, when instituted in cities in the U.S. and Canada, have caused considerable labor

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unrest. In Quebec city, a nine-month strike followed numerous grievances over com- pany use of part-time drivers, while Mont- real underwent two transit strikes for the same reason,

A subsequent study by the Quebec government of North American cities where part-time drivers were used found the system does not improve working condi- tions for drivers, Or save money, ICTU notes.

Simply put, problems arise with the part- time driver system because it creates “two classes” of drivers, since part-timers work under a different wage scale and are exempt from the usual seniority provisions, states the transit union.

ICTU accuses the compny of failing to provide any compelling evidence support- ing its demand for part-time drivers. The union refuses to discuss the issue, while MTOC has insisted it be accepted as part of the basis for negotiations.

Failing that development, the company’s position is that it won’t consider the union’s proposal ,of a three-year contract, with yearly wage increases of two, three and four per cent until March, 1986.

Added to the picture is the recent tenta- tive settlement between Metro Transit and the Office and Technical Employees Union, which provides for a modest wage hike and is free of the concessions initially sought by the company.

Since McIntyre, an appointee of the government’s Mediation Services Branch, has booked out of the dispute, ICTU has

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- government mediation. This caused union

to our members & friends

RETAIL CLERKS UNION Local 1518, UFCW

urged a return to the bargaining table under private mediation. Two weeks ago it pro- posed a three-member private mediation team, communicating its proposal i ina letter to Metro Transit officials.

Metro Transit’s response was to call a press conference, without replying to the union, announcing the parties would be returning to the bargaining table under

president Collin Kelly to charge the com- pany was seeking to “scuttle” any hope of a negotiated settlement. ICTU maintains the government media- tion hasn’t worked, and that a private mediation team, acceptable to both parties, is the best means of resolving the impasse. Since then, ICTU has escalated its “unstrike,”’ with tactics such as the recent

“token protest” and the planned series of

temporary shutdowns. = Meanwhile, Metro Transit has run a ser- Bh

ies of costly ads in local newspapers accus- FIGHT BACK SATURDAY MAY 5

ing the union of “refusing to negotiate” at MAY DAY 1984 j

the bargaining table. is 4 Seen in a larger context, Metro Transit’s MARCH: 12 pe oe Commercial e

hard-line approach on the part-time driver a

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issue is part and,parcel of B.C. Transit’s RALLY: 2 p.m. Grandview Park (Britantaiag 4

attempts to further erode aunlepa bus service. SPEAKERS e MUSIC

_ It's faced with paying for the ave CULTURAL PROGRAM ALRT project in Greater Vancouver, which : is likely to run well over $1 billion. By cut-

ting back on service to pay for the project, it Sponsored by > 7 sets the stage for a future when ALRT’s Vancouver Trade Union May Day Committee | driverless trains will whisk into stations in

which connector buses will be few in number. ae

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