The hearing that was scheduled for Monday regarding the Metro Vancouver transit job action has been delayed.
It has been pushed back by two days to Wednesday, Jan. 31.
The BC Labour Board Relations hearing was requested by CUPE 4500 to see if it could expand picket lines to include SkyTrain stations and facilities.
The union and the employer are currently in talks with special mediator Vince Ready to end the dispute.
CUPE 4500 said it’s not planning another major disruption to services until Feb. 3.
CUPE 7000 represents rapid transit and rail workers, which includes SkyTrain workers. It previously said its members will not cross any picket lines if they are at SkyTrain facilities and stations.
Only a few bus services would be unaffected by this strike.
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“If the option is open to CUPE 4500, we will be picketing SkyTrain operations in addition to Coast Mountain. This will effectively shut down all buses, the SeaBus, and all SkyTrain lines for three days,” Liam O’Neill, spokesperson for CUPE 4500, previously said in a statement.
“We are running out of options with Coast Mountain and TransLink. CUPE 4500 members have been more than patient, and the union has done all it can to get the fair deal our members deserve.”
CUPE 4500 members have been on strike since Jan. 6, when they began an overtime ban. That escalated this week to a 48-hour shutdown of the Coast Mountain bus and SeaBus networks.
The bus company said the union is demanding a 25 per cent pay rise and says that’s unreasonable, while the union says Coast Mountain tried to bully it in the negotiations.
— with files from Amy Judd
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