handyDART info

All that's happening with custom transit in Metro Vancouver

November 9, 2009
In January of this year, handyDART info stated that "a long and bitter strike seems inevitable." The expected strike has now been underway for several weeks with no settlement in site. For those who have followed the events as reported in handyDART info, this comes as no surprise. It is time to draw all the strands of this tangled web together. A short summary of the essential history is good beginning.

• From its inception, the HandyDART system has been operated by contractors engaged by TransLink. This contrasts with the rest of the public transit system which is operated by subsidiaries of TransLink. Until 2008, the HandyDART system was operated under eight contracts roughly corresponding to the various municipalities. The largest contracts were held by several non-profit societies, all but one of which also operated other related community services. Some of the latter had been awarded a succession of handyDART contracts over decades. Most of the contractors were unionized with one or another of three unions (CAW, ATU and BCGEU).
   
  
• Each contractor had its own collective agreement with the union representing its employees. There were significant differences in wages, benefits and working conditions among these agreemets. By far the most expensive was the Pacific Transit Cooperative agreement with ATU. As a result of a negotiated wage increase, Pacific Transit Cooperative became essentially bankrupt part way through its TransLink contract. The Coop had to be bailed out by TransLink which gave notice of cancellation of the Coop's contract and put it to tender.
   
• A protest orchestrated by the Coop, ATU and a Mayor member of the Translink Board was successful in thwarting this initiative. Tim Louis, one of the protest leaders and later the Chair of the Board of the Coop described the Coop as "pro-worker, pro-union." After this debacle [click here], TransLink continued to bail it out at $50,000 to $65,000 per month pending the expiry of its original contract.
   
• TransLink decided to amalgamate the system into three areas with one contract for each [click here]. A Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued for each the three areas: North of Fraser [click here], South of Fraser [click here] and Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows [click here]. Each RFP had one unique feature; the invitation to propose an alternate service model.
   
• There were a number of proposals made for each contract, including proposals made by two of the previous contractors who had operated handyDART services for many years [click here]. Only two companies applied for all three areas, neither a current contractor. One of them was selected for all three areas: MVT Canadian Bus, a subsidiary of MVT Transporatation (MVT), a large American corporation. TransLink entered into a single contract for all three areas. TransLink's announcement indicated that a significant reason for this decision was MVT's intention to consolidate all three contract areas into one integrated operation [click here].
   
• Although the terms of the contract have not been made public, it was disclosed that the MVT proposal was the most expensive proposal.
   
• After waging a vicious campaign of disinformation against contractors other than Pacific Transit Cooperative, ATU successfully raided CAW and BCGEU to represent all of MVT's employees. The stage was set for negotiation of a single contract. ATU welcomed MVT as a professional manager that would improve the lot of its members. TransLink was equally positive about the labour relations situation.
   
• The relationship had a rocky start. MVT introduced many changes that met with strenuous objections by ATU and many of its members.
   
• Negotiations continued through much of 2009. As predicted, major unresolved issues included wages and pensions. On August 30, MVT's drivers voted 97% in favour of a strike. On October 16, the BC Labour Relations Board declared only dialysis and cancer treatment trips to be essential services. On October 26, the strike began.

Is it coincidence or strategy that ATU began its strike two months before Christmas and just over three months before the Olympics?

There is considerable irony in the situation. Before TransLink selected MVT for all three areas, ATU attacked the non-profit agencies which had entered bids and welcomed MVT with open arms, expressing confidence that it would better the lot of drivers. After MVT took over the operations it the beginning of 2009, the troubles began and ATU's position changed. By November 5, 2009, News 1130 reported Tyler Felbel of ATU as saying TransLink must take its share of the blame as well.  "They're the ones that took the contracts away from mostly non-profit societies that were operating it, and gave the contract for the whole region to this large American for-profit company."

MVT made many changes to HandyDART operations that provoked bitter complaints from ATU and its members. Among the most contentious were the installation of GPS tracking units and video cameras on the buses. Negotiations have been tough and at times vitriolic with each side levelling accusations and counter-accusations at the other.

However, one completely predictable issue remains at the heart of the present labour dispute: wage rates. The holy grail of HandyDART unions and particularly of ATU has been wage parity with transit bus drivers. HandyDART drivers have traditionally been paid several dollars per hour less. Previous efforts to achieve this goal were stymied by the multiple contracts and fragmented union representation. TransLink benefited from the contract system by maintaining cost containment. The public benefited by having any operating surpluses put back into community services by the non-profit agency contractors.

Wages remain a major stumbling block. At the end of August, an MVT Negotiations Update sent to its employees stated that ATU's proposal would cost approximately $6.5 million per year more than MVT's proposal. It is almost certain that MVT's contract with TransLink cannot pay for anything near what ATU is determined to extract.

ATU may have had an excellent strategy at the time it was hatched. If MVT stood up to their pressure, TransLink would surely cave and fund the increases necessary to get the HandyDART system back to work. However, two unforseen developments are working to keep TransLink out of the dispute. The first is the recession following the financial crisis. The second is the recent scrutiny and criticism of TransLink's costs and financial management [click here]. In the face of its projected operating deficits and the political climate, TransLink does not and will not have the money fund the ATU's ambitions.

A long and bitter strike is now a reality.

Details and documents

» Requests for Proposal and names of proponents (bidders)

» Details of the selection (also the history menu tab above)

» Background history - the Pacific Transit Cooperative fiasco

» Labour relations complications - casting a long shadow

» TransLink recommendation to consolidate into three areas

» RFP North of Fraser (Request for Proposal - the tender document)

» RFP South of Fraser

» RFP Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows

» TransLink's news release announcing the selection of MVT Canadian Bus

» News reports - allegations about MVT in American cities and other concerns

«»

organizations online

TransLink
responsible for provision of custom transit services and contracts their operation to others

BC Coalition of People with Disabilities
respected advocacy group

MVT Canadian Bus
has a single contract with TransLink to replace the former contractors and operate handyDART services in all three Greater Vancouver service areas from January 2009

MV Transportation Inc.
American owner of MVT Canadian Bus

Pacific Transit Cooperative
previously operated the handyDART system in the City of Vancouver

3120 Ventures Ltd.
previously operated the handyDART system in North Vancouver and West Vancouver cities

Deltassist Family & Community Services
previously operated the handyDART system in Delta

Options: Services to Communities Society
previously operated the handyDART system in Surrey

Greater Vancouver Community Services Society
previously operated the handyDART system in Richmond, Burnaby, New Westminster, Port Moody, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam

Semiahmoo House Society
previously operated the handyDART system in Whiterock, South Surrey and Langley, bid as South Fraser Custom Transit Association

D. W. Services Ltd.
previously operated the handyDART system in the Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows area

Canadian Auto Workers Union Local 114
represented handyDART employees in some areas

BC Government & Service Employees' Union
represented handyDART employees in some areas

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724
represented handyDART employees of Pacific Transit Cooperative and now all handyDART employees

handydart.org
a pro-ATU blog and forum created originally for Pacific Transit Cooperative drivers, now for all MVT drivers, which displays a strong editorial bias [now defunct having served its purpose]