Union for HandyDART workers says it may soon issue strike notice

Workers at Metro Vancouver'sHandyDART transit service have rejected a final contract offerand their union says it could soon issue a strike notice and reduce services.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724 has said it would give a 72-hour strike notice if membership voted down the latest offer by Transdev, the contracted operator of HandyDART adoor-to-door shared transit service for people with permanent or temporary disabilities.

The union says it represents about 600 HandyDART workers, including drivers, dispatchers, mechanics and schedulers who work in the Greater Vancouver area.

Potential disruption of the service appeared to have been averted Monday, after workers suspended job action to vote on the contract offer.

Local 1724 president Joe McCann called the suspension of job action "a gesture of goodwill" after what the union described as "months of bargaining and escalating job actions" ranging from an overtime ban to refusing to wear uniforms.

McCannnow says the union will be issuing a 72-hour strike notice in the "near future," but did not specify when. He said the latest offer was rejected by 83 per cent of members who participated in the vote.

The two sides have been negotiating since last November. Key issues include staffing shortages and high worker turnover.

"We're looking for wage parity or wage fairness with conventional transit,"McCann told CBC News.

"We have a high level of turnover in our business compared to regular drivers. I think it's because of the wages."

CBC News has contactedTransdev, a French-based company, for comment.

Service could be cut to 18%: union

TransLink, Metro Vancouver's regional transit provider, has said that even if a strike goes ahead, service will continue for people needing rides to medical treatments for cancer and other illnesses.

McCannestimates in the case of a strike,HandyDART would cut down services to about 18 per cent of normal runs, only driving people who need be taken to appointments for dialysis, cancer treatments and multiple sclerosis. Normally, the service drives about 5,000 people a day, according toMcCann.

He said he hopes the union and employer get back to the negotiating table.

"We want toget this done and we don't want toinconvenience our passengers because this is a community that we care for," he said.