Employees at the Metro Vancouver regional district have voted 86 per cent in favour of backing their collective bargaining with strike action, the Teamsters said yesterday.
“A strike is not imminent,” said Rod Blackburn, a business representative for Teamsters Union Local 31. “We haven’t served notice … we’ve started down that path, but we’re still in negotiations.”
Almost 300 of the 400 employees cast votes Tuesday after bargaining with Metro Vancouver hit an impasse.
The employees range from administration, technical and scientific personnel, governing drinking water and sewage in Greater Vancouver.
Concerns, Blackburn said, include the treatment of auxiliary staff, a compressed workweek and benefits compared with workers in the City of Vancouver and other municipalities.
