Bulletin
TransLink – Member Update
May 7, 2020
To: All MoveUP members at TransLink
Thank you to you all, for your patience and understanding especially over the last few weeks with the uncertainty providing additional stress.
We wanted to provide you with an update now that the bumping process is underway at TransLink. Due to the testing requirements of certain positions, it may take a little longer to have members successfully placed.
For those members needing to take tests for their bumping eligibility, you will need to do so in-person. We have been assured that the employer has an adequate plan in place for proper physical distancing during these in-person tests.
Since our TransLink membership is a smaller group compared to CMBC, your employer has promised us that members who have been bumped from their position will have 24 hours to decide. We strongly encourage members to weigh their options or seek union assistance as soon as possible to ensure you are not skipped over due to time restraints.
Last week the employer shared their exempt labour adjustment plan, and now we have seen four new postings for exempt hires. Your union views this as very disrespectful and not how an enterprise such as TransLink, claiming to be in financial despair should be conducting business. Our belief is, if there is a true hiring freeze currently within the organization, new positions should not be filled until they are able to bring back the existing unionized workforce which they have said are “the heart and soul of our combined organizations”.
We find this even more concerning as our members are currently spread throughout the lower mainland and many on lay-offs. Now is a time for us to be vigilant in ensuring our work is not performed by non-bargaining staff. If you have any concerns or you see examples of non-bargaining unit staff performing bargaining unit work, please let us know right away so we are able to immediately address the issues with the employer.
Our advocacy and discussions with senior government officials are still on-going. We are hopeful that the provincial and federal governments will come with emergency funding for our transit system soon, especially after Premier Horgan’s announcements on the careful reopening of our province yesterday.
We are working hard to provide you with all the latest and most relevant updates we have. If you have not yet done so already, we invite you to join our Fund Transit Now private group page on Facebook. Our hope is the page will provide members with support and an avenue for all of you to be able to be involved in our campaign for emergency transit funding relief to keep the system running and the workers working.
In solidarity,
Parm Sandhar, Union Representative
Chritsy Slusarenko, Vice-President of Combined Units