The Cowichan Valley transit strike came to an end late last week after seven long months of rallies and picket lines, making it the longest transit strike in Canada’s history.
BC Transit workers in the Cowichan Valley Regional Transit System have been on strike since early February against Transdev, the company that controls the region’s transit, to attain better pay and working conditions.
The workers union, Unifor, and Transev have now agreed to end the strike and abide by the appointed mediator’s recommendations, which will be coming in the next few weeks.
Unifor workers voted 92% in favour of following the recommendations of the appointed mediator.
“The cycle of these transit strikes has to stop,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor Western Regional Director.
“We have to continue to work with the BC government and BC Transit to address issues that lead to these disputes.”
Now that the strike is over, commuters in the Cowichan Valley Regional Transit system will once again be able to use BC Transit’s services to navigate the area.
However, Unifor and Transdev say that full service will not be implemented immediately, as they have just started implementing a return-to-work plan.
Unifor says that it will take some time to get buses, which have been sitting idle for months, back to being road-ready and ensure they are mechanically sound.
BC Transit has been tasked with determining when bus service resumes. Thus far, no official return-to-service date has been announced.
