9924

Lol - and exactly who is this "we" you speak of?

Extensions doesn't mean that First will be guaranteed to keep the contract after the initial term expires. First in Kelowna was only given a 1 year extension (expires 2024) despite the original RPF noting a 6 year extension. As for wage parity, they're not gonna get it. If this goes to arbitration, 15% over 3 is most likely, maybe 20% if the mediator is very, very, very generous. Pension? I seriously doubt that will be given as well, not with a for profit company like First. Fact is, the cost of living in the Fraser Valley is cheaper than it is in Metro Van - and for that very reason, so many people commute everyday (including CMBC drivers) between the two. The hardest thing about striking, especially when its only about wages - is that the wages you loose by going on strike, will never be recouped - financially on a personal level, one digs a hole that will never be filled.

1) What's the Alberta MoT going to do? As long as you've got your 8 hours on your log, they don't care - everything else is between you and the company. Flying in for you rotation, get to the lodge - no room so you have to sit in the lobby for 8 freaking hours and then you had to work all night. Or get back to camp after your shift, check for your schedule for the next day - nothing. Call dispatch and be told that they're "printing" and will be on the next schedule - half the time you didn't get it until 2am and had a shuttle time of 330am. The cherry on top is every week you were dragged out for a "safety meeting" and every time you brought up the topic of driver fatigue, you'd be promptly accosted by management. Ah, those were the days ? From a legal stand point (unless its changed in recent years), transit drivers are actually exempt from the National Safety Code Hours of Service because we stay within 150kms (or whatever the distance was) from base - most companies that have hours of service requirements are because of the Union. When I first started, we had 13 hour shifts of straight driving with 2 x 15 minute "breaks", if you were on time and that was it. A few years later, the company tried to push in some 9 day straight shifts with 3 days off - that's when we decided we need the HoS clause in our Collective Agreement. 2) In regards to assaults - I don't deny that some assaults are unprovoked, that's why I said out of the drivers I know personally. Now, if you want to include verbal assaults, well there are 5 more drivers including myself - 3 of those drivers (all female for some reason) were verbally accosted (in public) by the company's manager and one of those drivers, by the Union rep (in public) in another instance. The other 2, including myself, were verbally accosted by a driver from another city because our route was going into their "jurisdiction", or so they claim, and being on their radio frequency is "illegal". Fracking idiot. I wonder how their "lawsuit" with the CRTC went? ?

Absolutely - I know of only one driver on a personal level who's been assaulted and I was surprised it took as long as it did.

LOL - you should go up and drive in the oil sands, you'll be lucky to get 4 hours of sleep on any given day.

Nova causes this to happen - don't know what it is with Nova's but they lose air ridiculously fast and need to rebuild after every freakin' layover. ?

They can have it.

I get that, just making a sarcastic remark to those certain passengers who demand the ramp because they "can't" get their walker over the inch from the curb, get on the bus, shuffle their feet and take their sweet time to sit down, then do the whole spiel again getting off and as soon as they get off the bus then its zooooooooooooooom - off they go like a bat out of hell popping wheelies up the stairs. We had one like that back home - her name was Flo - called her Flo-motion

I've seen some elderly (and not so elderly) "struggle" while entering/exiting a LF bus if you don't kneel the bus to less than half a micro inch of the curb but seem to have no issue going up the stairs when they get to their destination.

Welcome to the world of transit and to the world of Unions. Your schedule will get better once your seniority dictates - how long that will be or when that will be, no one knows. If you're lucky, and you have a lot of more senior co-workers retiring or quitting, it can go quickly - if you're in that lull where everyone sticks around, then it can take a lot longer.

I literally said that I'm not arguing that they deserve more money.

With all the weight sitting 40 feet behind you, it doesn't take much for the back end to start pushing and swinging around.

Average rent is about 20% cheaper in Abbotsford than Surrey - home prices follow a similar trend. Higher transportation costs also factor in for those who can't work near STC. Not arguing they don't deserve more money, Lord knows a lot of people do. Using an argument that clearly reflects the rise in cost of living in a particular region is logical - using the wage of another region while not detailing its cost of living is misguided. Just like Vancouver drivers saying Toronto makes more, but the cost of living in Toronto is also higher. Its all relevant.

And the next First Canada property to give strike notice is? Fraser Valley Love how Union's always use the "drivers in City "X" make so much money, so shouldn't we?" argument. All the while omitting the fact that City "X" also has higher living expenses.

I think that the signs should change over every time a bus turns down a new street, just for sh1ts and giggles.

Interac payment option is supposedly up and running as of today at all fare gates and on all buses.

PTC is undergoing DD capable retrofits this year as posted 8 posts above yours. Not sure where you heard the 555 going to HTC from. Not that I'm saying the 301 wouldn't go to HTC, but from an operational standpoint, there would be little benefit unlike the 340. But since rumours are the name of the game, the 555 is actually going to VTC. Translink is adding overhead wire all along Hwy 1 and it will be run with triple decker trolley buses. I heard it via "internal" sources.

Pope Benedict XVI has passed away at the age of 95 in Vatican City. As he has already been succeeded by Pope Francis, there will be no Conclave as we saw in 2005 when Pope John Paul II passed away.

Thats the thing with arbitration, it's binding. As far as it being a far cry from what the Union was looking for, its all about perspective, in regards to wages - if the Union was to go on a full strike, financially - you'd lose more than you'd ever gain. Always a tough call that requires rational thinking and ignoring personal emotions, something that many Union members don't have seem to have the capacity for. A Union is a tool, nothing more and nothing less, and just like any other tool, if not used correctly, it can mess you up pretty darn quick.

Its a good thing, would have cost him another fifty bucks ? Went to see Top Gun back in the summer, simple dinner at the Spaghetti Factory, movie ticket, Pepsi, popcorn and a pack of Twizzlers - almost $75 - glad I'm not dating, I'd go broke ? The sad thing is, the dinner was the best and cheapest part of the night - go figure lol

Hmmm, $75, that's gotta be what? 3 Snickers and a Mars Bar? ?

Naughty. Very, very naughty ?

But, but, but - "snow" tires ?

Settlement reached through arbitration: https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/402036/Settlement-reached-in-Kelowna-transit-labour-dispute

And the scalping begins: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/translink-compass-mini-train-resold-online