HandyDART riders in Delta — and all points between North Vancouver and Aldergrove — may soon experience disruption of service, following an announcement that more than 600 employees in Metro Vancouver represented by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1724 will engage in a full work stoppage beginning Monday, Aug. 26.
The 600 employees poised to strike include drivers, maintenance and office workers, and more.
Local 1724 has been in contract negotiations since November 2023 with Transdev, a France-based multinational public-transit company contracted by TransLink to operate HandyDART.
On June 27 of this year, ATU members voted 95 percent to authorize strike action. Eighty-seven percent of active members participated in the strike vote overall.
HandyDART is a door-to-door shared-ride service for disabled individuals who are unable to navigate conventional public transit without assistance.
In a press release, Joe McCann, President of Local 1724, said: “We started a series of escalating job actions in early July with the hope that Transdev would come to see reason and avoid a strike. Instead of negotiating, however, Transdev has stonewalled bargaining and even threatened payroll disruptions against members who refused to work overtime in protest of the company’s behaviour. Enough is enough.”
The press release adds that since July 3, HandyDART workers have “engaged in partial work withdrawals as part of a steady ramp-up of job actions. These have included refusals to wear uniforms, collect fares, work overtime, fill out certain kinds of paperwork, and [perform] work off the clock.”
The ATU says it has experienced more than double the staffing shortages and turnover of the rest of TransLink, mostly due to poor compensation in comparison with other transit jobs in the region. HandyDART drivers in the Fraser Valley earn 16 percent more than those in Metro Vancouver, while Coast Mountain drivers earn 30 percent more.
Speaking to the Optimist, McCann notes, “[ATU drivers are] trying to get parity with the Fraser Valley. The rent out there — I checked in June, and the average one-bedroom was $1,450. Downtown Vancouver was $2,700. But [Fraser Valley drivers] are making five bucks an hour more than our drivers... Drivers in Toronto have a similar cost of living; they make $38 an hour and we’re $31 in Vancouver.
“It seems that what we're asking for is incredibly reasonable. What we’re asking for [in the current negotiations] is actually less than they're making in the Valley, but we want to achieve parity eventually.”
If the prospective Aug. 26 strike does take place, it will be the third major transit work stoppage in the province against Transdev in less than two years.
