Two months into the strike, the union representing transit workers in the Eastern Fraser Valley says the employer, First Transit, has failed to bargain in good faith and has committed unfair labour practices.
The claims are outlined in a Labour Relations Board (LRB) application filed by CUPE 561 on May 9, which was seven weeks into the strike that has paralyzed bus service in Abbotsford, Mission, Chilliwack, Agassiz and Hope.
The union says for the first four months of the year, First Transit repeatedly told them they did not have the ability to pay the wage demands set out by employees. The union had asked for financial statements to prove the company couldn’t pay, and received redacted documents.
In the application, the union says that on Jan. 18, 2023, First Transit stated the “basic reality” is that they do not “have the ability to pay market adjustment” and the “only way to get this is job action” by the union.
The union took this to mean that the only way to get their wage demands was to go on strike, thereby putting pressure on BC Transit to cover the extra costs.
Unrelated to all of this, in April First Transit sought a court injunction to stop workers from committing what the company said were “unlawful acts” during picketing.
READ MORE: First Transit seeks court injunction against workers picketing in Abbotsford and Chilliwack
On May 5, the union asked First Transit how the redacted service agreement, the profit and loss statement, and other information backed up the claim that they had an inability to pay.
“In response to this question, the Employer stated that ‘there was no way we would ever consider that increase [sought by the Union]’ and that their assertions were not an inability to pay and more so ‘not willing to consider’ the union’s wage demands,” according to the LRB application.
The union’s argument to the LRB is that this amounts to bargaining in bad faith and misleading the union in violation of the Labour Relations Code.
“The employer both failed to meet the duty to bargain in good faith and committed an unfair labour practice when it provided inaccurate information to the union and took no steps to correct this information until May 5, 2023,” the complaint stated.
In the LRB complaint, the union lays out a series of relief and remedies to the company’s actions.
Namely: “A declaration that the employer has committed unfair labour practices by violating the Labour Relations Code; a declaration that the employer has bargained in bad faith by violating the Code; an order for the employer to cease and desist from failing to bargain in good faith; an order for the employer to produce financial documents relevant to collective bargaining as requested by the union and/or as directed by the board; an order for the employer to pay to the union’s bargaining unit members the amount equivalent to all monies they would have earned if not for union’s strike to date; and, an order for the employer to pay to the union the amount equivalent to all payments made by the union to maintain the health and welfare benefits for the union’s bargaining members during the union’s strike to date.
There are approximately 200 transit employees affected by the current job action.
First Transit needs to respond to the LRB complaint before a hearing is scheduled.
READ MORE: Transit employer says mediation an option to end month-long strike in Fraser Valley
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