Bulletin
Please Support our Fund Transit NOW Campaign
April 27, 2020
To: MoveUP Members
Last Monday was a very tough day for over 160 of our members who were laid off in the wake of the significant cuts to service announced at Coast Mountain Bus Company and TransLink.
MoveUP members in several bargaining units face layoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are working to support all of them during this challenging time. Cuts to public transit have particular significance because public transit affects all of us. Whether we are frequent or sporadic riders, or we have friends, family, neighbours, or service providers we interact with who use it, we all know someone who relies on public transit.
While laid off members at our transit groups will have access to the same government financial supports that other laid off workers do, it does not make sense for the government to spend money for these workers to be off the job when they should be investing that money to preserve those jobs and keep our transit system going at or near its full service with proper physical distancing.
With many healthcare workers and other depended-upon front-line workers relying on public transit to get them safely, reliably, and affordably to work, it is imperative that our elected officials recognize this urgent need and provide the funding necessary now.
We want your help to support your fellow MoveUP members, front-line workers, and others in our communities who rely on public transit. We need to put the pressure on the government to provide emergency funding to keep our transit systems strong and sustained through this crisis, and beyond.
Learn how you can help by visiting our campaign page at MoveUPTogether.ca/fundtransitnow. Please also share this with your friends and family and ask them to get behind and support the call for emergency funding for transit.
Thank you for your support.
In solidarity,
David Black, President
Lori Mayhew, Secretary-Treasurer
Christy Slusarenko, Vice-President, Combined Units
Annette Toth, Vice-President, ICBC unit
Rysa Kronebusch, Vice-President, Utilities