HandyDART workers might go on strike Monday

Six hundred Metro Vancouver HandyDART workers may be going on strike next Monday, pausing most of the transit service’s thousands of door-to-door trips in the region.

Its union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are “trying to catch up” their workers in Metro Vancouver to counterparts in the Fraser Valley. They are currently negotiating with HandyDART’s employer, Transdev, to increase wages. 

Joe McCann, the union’s president, told the Dispatch that HandyDART drivers in Metro Vancouver are making $31.11 per hour compared to the drivers who make $36.09 in the Fraser Valley. 

Their current goal is to increase the driver’s hourly wage to $34.27, and raise the pay for dispatchers, mechanics and other workers.

“But we’re not close,” he said. “Here we are, out and about in Vancouver, where rent is way higher. The cost of living is way higher.”

HandyDART has had trouble with staffing shortages — the union says staff turnover is about double to that of TransLink — which McCann hopes a wage increase could mitigate. Many of their drivers have specialized training and can earn better money elsewhere.

They’ve been trying to get better wages for nearly a year. McCann says they asked Transdev for bargaining last September.

“And have been going at it since November. Hundreds and hundreds of hours at the table,” he said.

In June of this year, 96 per cent of workers voted to authorize a strike if necessary. 

At first, they slowly trickled in job action: uniform refusal, drivers letting riders on for free, an overtime ban and office staff refraining from some tasks.

“It was putting pressure on the company, but we still weren’t getting where we needed to be in negotiations.”

Transdev, a French multinational corporation, was contracted by TransLink in 2018 to run the HandyDART service in Metro Vancouver. 

In an email to the Dispatch, Stacy Patenaude, Transdev’s vice president of communications and public affairs, said that they are aware of the union’s intention to strike on August 26 if they have not yet made an agreement. She said Transdev has offered wage increases between 23 and 32 per cent by January 2027.

“We are disappointed that our customers will potentially be in a position of reduced service and our employees’ livelihoods will be compromised.”

HandyDART services would pause except for those deemed essential

HandyDART’s service is “invaluable” to its customers, McCann says. 

People who aren’t able to use standard public transit without assistance rely on HandyDART to get to and from medical appointments, dialysis, day programs, work, education and other activities.

There were nearly 1.2 million trips in 2023 — 18 per cent of those were either in the Tri-Cities, Burnaby or New Westminster.

McCann believes that HandyDART should be a public service — not run by a private, for profit company. “We think it needs better long term planning, and long term focus for growth,”he said

This has been echoed by a number of municipalities. Burnaby, North Vancouver, Langley City, Langley Township and Maple Ridge have all passed resolutions where they’ve called for HandyDART to be brought in-house under TransLink, according to the union.

Kevin Quinn, the CEO of TransLink, wrote in the service’s performance review last year that HandyDART needs further investment to keep up with growing demand. Over 90,000 new residents moved to Metro Vancouver in 2023.

If the strike goes ahead on Monday, HandyDART will still offer its services for people going in for dialysis, cancer and certain multiple sclerosis treatments.

But it won’t be available for the rest of its users.

“Until we sign and ratify an agreement I think we’ll be on strike,” McCann said.

This story has been updated to include a response from Transdev.