Four month long Fraser Valley transit strike finally ends with union vote

Jul 21, 2023 | 6:56 PM

ABBOTSFORD — Four months and a day after it began, the transit strike in the Fraser Valley is over. CUPE 561 members voted to accept a mediated settlement with First Transit Friday (Jul. 21). According to a union news release, picket lines are being taken down and the 213 transit workers are returning to their jobs.

The deal is six years, ending March 31, 2026. While it doesn’t reach the union’s goal of receiving the same pay as their member’s counterparts in Vancouver, it does close the gap while also introducing a pension plan which will go into effect next spring.

“Our members needed a lift, and with this agreement they got one,” said CUPE 561 President Randy Kootte.

Earlier this week, First Transit announced it would accept the recommended terms laid out by mediator Vince Ready.

As well as appreciating the Ready’s efforts, Kootte thanked Fraser Valley residents for their constant support of the union’s bargaining goals from the beginning of the strike.

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“We cannot thank our communities enough for supporting us in our struggle to achieve wage fairness and retirement security—and showing that support despite the many hardships and inconveniences people had to endure as the dispute dragged on,” he said.

A date for the resumption of transit service in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Mission, Agassiz, Harrison Hot Springs, Hope and other smaller communities in the Fraser Valley, is expected shortly. However, the union says it will do everything it can to get buses rolling as soon as possible.

by Fraser Valley Today Staff

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Four month long Fraser Valley transit strike finally ends with union vote

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