Two legal questions hang over the transit labour dispute

Good morning,

With the Labour Relations Board set to hear today from parties on whether or not bus supervisors can picket SkyTrain lines, effectively shutting down not only buses but also trains in the region, let this be your reminder to make plans for alternative ways of getting around if you can! Obviously that’s not possible for everyone, so also try to look out for your neighbours and loved ones who may be in need of a lift.

And here’s hoping the strike gets resolved soon!

In today’s issue, you can read about two legal questions hanging over the transit labour dispute and another hanging over the park board dissolution.

— Dustin Godfrey

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WEATHER

Wednesday: 14 🌡️ 10 | 🌧️

Thursday: 11 🌡️ 9 | 🌧️

Friday: 11 🌡️ 2 | 🌧️

TRANSIT STRIKE

Two legal questions hang over the bus strike

Today, the Labour Relations Board will hear arguments from CUPE Local 4500 and the Coast Mountain Bus Company over whether or not the union can legally picket SkyTrains. It’s important to note that a picket isn’t just a picket — it would escalate a strike to not only affect the buses and SeaBus, but also effectively shut down the trains.

• That’s because unions have a general policy against crossing picket lines, meaning SkyTrain workers would not perform work on SkyTrains if they are being picketed, even if by a separate union. (It’s the power of collective action!)

An essential service? As transit service shutdowns impact riders who rely on public transit to make it to work or to medical appointments, or simply to meet their daily needs, some have also called for the province to declare transit an essential service to severely limit the union’s ability to strike.

• That includes a recent petition filed by a commuter who relies on buses to get to their job at a Surrey gas station, according to CTV. Kevin Neath told the broadcaster he takes two buses each way in his commute to and from work, and he can’t afford any other mode of travel. 

During the two-day work stoppage, he slept at his father’s place but said another work stoppage would leave him unable to work during that time.

A more fundamental question: At the centre of both of these legal questions — should transit be an essential service, and can the union picket SkyTrains — is a really basic right: the right to strike. A landmark ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada will likely weigh to varying degrees in both of these questions.

• The decision was a 2015 ruling that came out of a dispute between the Saskatchewan government and the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour.

What was that court decision about? It revolved around two laws implemented in 2008, one of which unilaterally declared public sector workers essential workers and prohibited their ability to strike. (The other put more barriers in the way of workers being able to unionize.)

• The majority opinion from the Supreme Court of Canada, in allowing the unions’ appeal, declared that the right to strike is “not merely derivative of collective bargaining, it is an indispensable component of that right.”

Why, though? The right to strike, the majority wrote, levels the playing field in the bargaining process in an economic system in which the court “has long recognized the deep inequalities” between employer and employee.

• Strikes, as the court noted, are intended to apply political and economic pressure on employers. Besides the ongoing transit strike, one good example of this is the port strikes of last summer, which the Canadian Chamber of Commerce claimed in November “halted 25 percent of Canada’s total trade.” 

Limitations to the protections: While the Saskatchewan government’s bill declaring all public sector workers essential workers and prohibiting them from striking was declared unconstitutional, that doesn’t mean workers can’t be declared essential. 

Workers can still be essential: According to BC’s Labour Relations Board, a disagreement over whether the services are essential — whether a labour dispute would “pose a threat to health, safety and welfare of British Columbians” — parties could seek an investigation into the issue from the LRB, which would then make a recommendation to the labour minister to make a decision.

• That wouldn’t, however, mean there couldn’t be labour action. Instead, the two parties would need to meet and negotiate staffing levels. 

What of the SkyTrain picket? A union is allowed to apply for what is called “ally picketing” to the LRB, which defines an ally as a person or company who helps out an employer in the event of a lawful strike. In this case, the various TransLink subsidiaries that govern SkyTrains and the Canada Line and the West Coast Express could be deemed allies.

If so, there may be significant disruptions to transit in the coming weeks — but notably, the additional pressure from such widespread disruptions could push TransLink towards a quicker conclusion.

VANCOUVER NUMBERS

📈 $55,000: How much a 92-year-old Vancouver house sold for in 1978. It just sold for almost $3 million on Wednesday… [Urbanized]

👮 1: The number of homicides this year. The first one occurred on Sunday, after someone was found dead inside their home. The police are investigating and haven’t released the cause of death. [Vancouver is Awesome]

PARK BOARD

Oh, you thought the park board issue would fade away?

Sure, the city has struck a committee to oversee the transition to fold the park board into city hall’s regular operations, and sure, usually that means an issue will fade out of the public’s view until some report is issued months later, at which point everyone gets riled up all over again.

But it isn’t? No, the park board and its defenders aren’t letting go of the matter silently. Today, from 3 to 6 pm, the three city councillors not part of the ruling ABC Vancouver party, OneCity’s Christine Boyle and Vancouver Greens councillors Adriane Carr and Pete Fry, are holding a town hall meeting at city hall to hear comments and questions on the matter, according to Vancovuer is Awesome.

• The three have opposed the move to fold the park board, saying it does good work despite chronic underfunding from city hall, according to VIA.

It isn’t just them: Beyond opposition city councillors, the park board isn’t letting the issue just fade either. Vancouver Greens Commissioner Tom Digby is expected to present a motion next week to the board to push for legal counsel to potentially file a court challenge against the plan, according to the Vancouver Sun.

The motion would ask for a $20,000 retainer for an independent legal team to look at the chance of success in a court challenge to what Digby called a “surprise attack” in December, according to the Sun.

• Mayor Ken Sim’s plan to kill the park board was approved by the ABC-dominated council in mid-December, but was met with a narrow majority (4-3) vote by the park board to write the province to voice their opposition to closing them down, according to Vancouver is Awesome at the time.

Why a legal challenge? Digby believes the motion by Sim to fold the park board is unconstitutional, describing the move as being “effectively mugged” by the mayor, according to CityNews. He said the mayor has yet to provide rationale for why the board “had to be abolished now, after 135 years,” and went “way beyond” the powers laid out in the Vancouver Charter.

Part of the province’s requirement for abolishing the park board is Indigenous consultation, and according to Global, the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Indian Band has voiced support for the move, while the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) has supported participating in the process, and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish First Nation) hasn’t commented publicly.

Will the motion pass? Given the split on park board over this issue — one Vancouver Greens commissioner and the three newly independent commissioners against three remaining ABC commissioners — it seems likely this vote will go the same way as the December vote: a 4-3 vote in favour.

Whether the matter will gain any traction in court is another question entirely.

DREAM HOME

Is that… is that a palace?

I feel small just looking at these pictures from my little one-bedroom apartment! Am I, a mere peasant, even allowed to look at pictures of something so palatial? If you have a bit of money lying around, you could pick this up for a mere $[redacted to protect sanity]. 

House of The Week is a home selected by the Lookout team and is not a paid advertisement. All ads are labeled as such. If you’re a realtor who wishes to feature your home in our newsletter, please contact our sales team.

THE AGENDA

🚨 Second-degree murder charges were laid against a 39-year-old man in Vancouver’s first homicide of 2024. A man was found dead at a home near East 33rd and Knight just after 1 am Sunday, and police made an arrest at the scene. [CBC]

🚔 And a 42-year-old Vancouver man was also charged with second-degree murder by RCMP, this time in the killing of Winnipeg woman Crystal Shannon Saunders in 2007. [The Canadian Press]

🚴 The City of Burnaby is looking for input on improvements to a cycling route from Vancouver to SFU and down Gaglardi Way. This one is just outside our borders, but given that cycling isn’t confined to city lines, we felt it’s a good one to share here. [Burnaby Now]

🧑‍🚒 Video surveillance from the deadly Winters Hotel fire that killed two residents in April 2022, shown at the coroner’s inquest, shows a man trying to use a fire extinguisher to put the fire out but only getting a brief spurt of fire suppressant. [CTV]

⛺️ As decampment in Oppenheimer Park continues, a Downtown Eastside advocate said the tactic of dismantling tents and structures is getting old, especially when it’s done without any supports in place for those who are constantly displaced. [CityNews]

📉 The chair of Vancouver’s budget task force says Vancouver shouldn’t dismantle its supports that people depend on, but he acknowledged that the funding model — based on property taxes — paired with increasing downloading of responsibilities by senior levels of government is unsustainable. [Vancouver Sun]

🧑‍⚖️ “Tinged with pseudolegal hallmarks” doesn’t sounds like the kind of descriptor you want attached to a lawyer’s lawsuits, and indeed, the lawyer whose frivolous lawsuit was described in this CBC article that way resigned her licence to practise law. That doesn’t, however, mean investigations by the Law Society of BC will automatically go away. [CBC]

💊 In her 13 years in the role, outgoing chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says there’s “no doubt that the toxic drug crisis” has been the primary focus of her work. “For us, it’s very personal. It’s seven human beings every day,” she told CHEK in an interview. [CHEK]

👮 BC’s human rights commissioner is planning an inquiry into police use of force against racialized people and those with mental health issues, building on a 2021 report by the commissioner that found a pattern of discrimination in police forces in the provinces. [Vancouver Sun]

ARTS

Theatre

For a family-friendly musical that, as the Straight puts it, “still boasts handcrafted puppets and a killer original pop-rock score,” you may want to make your way out to New Westminster’s Anvil Theatre for Frog Belly Rat Bone, running March 8 and 9. [Straight]

Music

Vancouver will be the starting point for Justin Timberlake’s Forget Tomorrow World Tour on April 29 at Rogers Arena. Tickets will be going on sale on Friday at Live Nation. [Vancouver Sun]

Remember that phase of the pandemic when we were all singing sea shanties on TikTok? Well, Chor Leoni’s The Return Voyage will bring some of that energy (at least, it’ll bring the shanties) to St. Andrew’s-Wesley United on Feb. 18 and 19. [Straight]

Movies 

Are you kicking yourself for missing Godzilla Minus One in theatres, or just want to see it in theatres another time? Well, you can see it two more times at the Rio this week. It plays tonight at 9:30 pm, or you can watch it in black-and-white with Godzilla Minus One: Minus Colour tomorrow at 9:30 pm.

Art

The impact of artificial intelligence on students and local artists can’t be ignored, Emily Carr University animation professor Lorelei Pepi told CBC in a recent interview. Her students already feel that AI is threatening their futures as artists, she said. [CBC]

VANCOUVER GUESSER

Today’s Vancouver Guesser is a throwback for me — back in 2011, in my first place in Vancouver, my friends and I would ride down this hill on skateboards and take a bus back up a parallel street for another ride down. Can you guess what street this hill is on? If you answer correctly we may feature you in our next newsletter.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• One well-known view from West Georgia is no more. A six-storey mural of German goldsmiths painted on the side of the nearly 100-year-old Randall Building in a 1991 renovation was painted over during remediation work. [CTV]

• When the boat’s a-rockin’, uh. Well, actually, hopefully this boat won’t be rocking too much this Thursday, as Hullo’s fast foot-passenger ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo hosts a “high-speed speed dating” event. [Nanaimo News Bulletin]

• For once, it’s Canadians that are imposing on our neighbours south of the border. After a comment from the Vancouver subreddit — “Vancouver, BC has a Trader Joe’s too. It’s in a neighbourhood called Bellingham.” — was posted in the Bellingham, WA subreddit, our cross-border milk shopping habits became the ire of at least some Reddit users in that community. [Daily Hive]

• Some new historical digital magazine publications are now available through the Vancouver Public Library, including copies of The Atlantic going back to 1857. Other magazines include Forbes, Bloomberg and Vanity Fair. [Vancouver Sun]

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