The terms of the new agreement were also ratified yesterday by CMBC`s Board of Directors. A three-day closure of bus and seabus services that would have crippled Metro Vancouver was narrowly averted last week, with both sides announcing around 12:30 p.m. that they had reached an agreement. VANCOUVER — After nearly a month of strike action, unionized bus and seabus employees voted Thursday to ratify a new three-year collective agreement. Metro Vancouver employees have voted in favour of a new contract agreement with coast mountain Bus Company (CMBC), which officially ends a weeks-long dispute. Unifor Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle said after the vote that Unifor 111 and 2200 members were “very happy” with the deal that brings transit wages closer to Toronto and parity with SkyTrain workers. “It is CMBC`s position that it has complied with the collective agreement and has fulfilled all legal obligations,” the statement reads. The two sides met at least half a dozen times during the day and eventually extended the midnight period by half an hour before finally reaching an agreement. Unifor`s intensified work — a ban on uniforms and overtime — lasted 27 days from November 1. The two sides struggled to reach an agreement, with Unifor calling for a fair contract on working conditions and saying it wanted an agreement that reconciled the interests of local public transport workers and passengers, given that meeting all the union`s demands could lead to fare increases and taxes and reductions in the planned expansion of service.
“We think this is a historic collective agreement and there are many, many other changes that our members are looking forward to,” he said. Union representatives, who helped secure the deal at a marathon meeting last week, boasted that the deal contained “historic gains” for workers. Under the three-year agreement, bus drivers, SeaBus operators and maintenance workers will receive a 2% retroactive wage increase for work, which dates back from December 5, 2019 to April 1, 2020. “Metro Vancouver employees will experience substantial improvements in wages, benefits and working conditions as a result of this new agreement,” Jerry Dias, Unifor National President, said in a statement. In a vote today in Surrey, union members formally approved the interim agreement approved by Unifor negotiators in the early morning of Wednesday, November 27. The result of the vote was 84.3% for the agreement. CMBC chairman Michael McDaniel said the deal was ratified by the company`s board on Wednesday. Skilled craftsmen will receive a 2% increase retroactive to April 1 and a further increase of $1.95 per hour, which will now be addressed to SkyTrain skilled artisans represented by another union.
They will then receive 2% increases over the next two years. In ratifying the agreement, the union released concrete details to the public for the first time on Thursday night. These approximately 900 SkyTrain employees voted on November 19 with 96.8% in favour of the work measures. CUPE 7000 is required to inform the employer 72 hours in advance of all acts of work. To view your pension benefits, log in to the Public Service Retirement Plan. Meanwhile, the union representing SkyTrain workers in the area is in the middle of a negotiated negotiation with its employer, BC Rapid Transit Company. The agreement was ratified, with 84.3% of the estimated 5,000 union members voting in favour of the agreement reached in the 11th hour before a planned work stoppage that would have failed thousands of transit users. .
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