Residents encouraged to prepare for transit job action

Unionized transit workers in the Cental Okanagan could walk off the job as early as tomorrow.

FirstGroup, BC Transit’s service contractor in the Central Okanagan, received 72-hour notice from their employees of potential job action as early as Thursday, Sept. 1.

FirstGroup operates the conventional and handyDART services in Kelowna, West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation, Lake Country and Peachland.

BC Transit is closely monitoring the situation and will provide updates as new information becomes available.

In the event of service disruption, people should visit www.bctransit.com/kelowna for further information.

Regional partners, including City of Kelowna, City of West Kelowna, District of Lake Country, District of Peachland, Westbank First Nation, and Regional District of Central Okanagan, issued a statement this afternoon, saying they are not employers of the drivers and staff who operate the transit system and, therefore, will not be directly involved in the negotiations, or commenting on them.

The municipalities say given that public transit is an essential and critical component of the regional transportation system, they have sent a letter to the Minister of Labour requesting the provincial government intervene in order to prevent disruptions to service.

“We strongly encourage both parties to find a fair and reasonable resolution as transit is a very important service for the citizens of the Central Okanagan,” said the statement.

Residents who use transit are encouraged to plan ahead and consider their options should there be a labour disruption to service.

“Work from home if possible, plan travel at non-peak times, check in with co-workers, friends, neighbours and family to see if there are options to carpool, share rides and support one another all the time but especially during a transit disruption,” the regional partners added.