VANCOUVER – CUPE Local 7000 SkyTrain workers have ratified a new collective agreement with the BC Rapid Transit Company. The union membership voted 72% in favor of accepting the deal.
A Tentative agreement was reached last month during non-binding mediation at the BC Labour Relations Board. The two sides were at the bargaining table for eight months before talks stalled in late February.
The three-year, no-concessions contract includes wage increases of two per cent in each of the first two years and a 1.75-per-cent wage hike in the final year. The contract also includes improvements to maternity benefits and the employees’ extended health plan. Employer-proposed changes to retirement benefits and the employee sick plan were dropped.
CUPE Local 7000 represents 537 active SkyTrain operators, attendants, trades, maintenance workers, office staff and dispatchers. The workers operate the Expo and Millennium SkyTrain lines.
