Strike threat looms in HandyDART dispute as union vote suspends job action

Potential disruption to British Columbia's HandyDART transit service this morning was averted after workers suspended job action to vote on a final contract offer, but strike action remains a possibility.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724 says it will give a 72-hour strike notice if the membership votes down the latest offer by Transdev Canada.

Local 1724 president Joe McCann called the suspension of all job action "a gesture of goodwill" after what the union described as "months of bargaining and escalating job actions" ranging from uniform refusals to an overtime ban.

McCann says the vote will happen soon after information meetings for members held Sunday and today.

The union said last week that members would begin a "full work stoppage" today unless a tentative deal was reached with France-based Transdev, the contracted operator of HandyDART.

The two sides have been negotiating since last November, and Transdev Canada says in a statement that the company had been working to rebook trips of the door-to-door HandyDART service that were jeopardized by the possible strike.