BurnaBy pinBaller tops in canada
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premier ponders Black ink, oil
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Grocery store roBBer souGht
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wednesday
December 19 2012 www.burnabynewsleader.com
you sent us your christmas pet photos, and now it’s time to share them with everyone. See Page a15 + a17
Packed house protests shuttle changes Decision not expected until late 2013 Wanda chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
Grant GranGer/neWSLeaDer
a city of Burnaby employee transfers a garbage dumpster from an underground parking lot to the street, for a garbage truck to pick up, on monday.
City reaches deal with CUPE Agreement includes 6.75 per cent wage increase over three years Wanda chow
wchow@burnabynewsleader.com
The City of Burnaby and its unionized civic workers have reached a new four-year collective agreement in seemingly record time. And they saved money doing it themselves this time around. The deal with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 23 follows the settlement reached by New Westminster city workers in August and provides
a total of 6.75 per cent in wage increases—1.25 per cent in the first year, 1.75 per cent in the second and third years, and two per cent in the fourth. The agreement spans the period of Jan. 1, 2012 to Jan. 31, 2015. CUPE 23 held its ratification vote Dec. 12 and members approved the contract with 85 per cent in favour. CUPE 23 president Rick Kotar said the first municipality to settle its contracts typically sets the model for others to follow. “In the Lower Mainland the wage and term is always the same. Once somebody strikes it, that’s what it is.”
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Compared to the last time around, this bargaining process was swift. “We basically went to the table in late October, rolled up our sleeves and held meetings on a regular basis over the next month and were able to reach a tentative agreement on Dec. 5,” said Kotar. He said the quick process was due mainly to the fact this was the first time in decades that Burnaby negotiated directly with CUPE instead of going through Metro Vancouver’s (formerly Greater Vancouver Regional District, or GVRD) Labour Relations Bureau.
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For years, the bureau has conducted bargaining on behalf of most of the region’s municipalities to provide consistency from one city to the next. But Burnaby and other cities opted out after the process slowed to a crawl in 2007 due to the bureau’s insistence on a term that would end just after the 2010 Winter Olympics, to prevent a strike during the event. That stalemate led to a lengthy strike in the City of Vancouver. None of that was an issue for Burnaby this time around.
Regent
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North Burnaby residents certainly gave TransLink officials much to think about. About 120 people, including two busloads from Seton Villa seniors residence, attended the Dec. 12 open house on proposed changes to the C1 and C2 community shuttle service. A petition of about 140 signatures from Seton Villa and others in the Heights neighbourhood is also on its way to TransLink. “It was probably the most well attended of all our open houses,” said Marisa Espinosa, TransLink’s senior manager of service planning, of its consultations for proposed changes across the region. “They did a good job of mobilizing.” Area residents have raised concerns about reduced service making it difficult to carry heavy bags of groceries home or get to appointments. There were worries about seniors in the hilly Heights and Capitol Hill neighbourhoods losing their independence. please see DecISIon, a5