National

Metro Vancouver workers closer to 'full-scale strike' with no contract progress

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 11 Jun, 2026 09:42 AM

Metro Vancouver's unionized outside workers are threatening a full-scale strike after no progress toward an agreement during weeks of rotating pickets.

Jesse Medeiros, the president of the Greater Vancouver Regional District Employees’ Union, says in a statement that the members are "fed up" with no progress or talks planned.

Pickets have been set up on Thursday at work yards in Surrey and Delta as part of the union's weeks-long job action.

The union says Metro Vancouver has attached preconditions to a return to bargaining, and workers will be forced to conduct a full-scale strike despite efforts to "minimize inconvenience to the public."

However, the regional district has said that no preconditions are being attached to continuing talks, and it has offered five bargaining dates as well as the appointment of a mediator that the union has rejected.

The union's last agreement expired about 17 months ago.

Rotating pickets have so far hit Metro Vancouver's head office in Burnaby, multiple wastewater and water treatment facilities, and popular recreational sites such as the Grouse Grind and Queen Elizabeth Park.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. shuts door on secondary-suite incentive program over 'uncertain financial times'

The British Columbia government says it is cancelling an incentive program meant to entice more homeowners to build secondary suites, saying the decision is "due to uncertain financial times." The government says in a statement that the pilot program won't accept applications after March 31.

B.C. shuts door on secondary-suite incentive program over 'uncertain financial times'

Ottawa condemns China for executing Canadians as Beijing points to drug crime

Global Affairs Canada and the Chinese embassy both declined to say how many Canadians were executed or report the names of those killed. Ottawa did confirm they did not include Abbotsford, B.C. native Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, who was sentenced to death for drug smuggling by a Chinese court in 2019.

Ottawa condemns China for executing Canadians as Beijing points to drug crime

Ottawa provides $20M for B.C.'s forest sector amid softwood duties, trade war

The federal government is providing about $20 million in funding to support British Columbia's forestry sector, part of Ottawa's effort to bolster the economy amid the Canada-U. S. trade war. Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says it's more important than ever to support the sector, which is subject to American duties on softwood lumber and now faces the additional threat of steep tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ottawa provides $20M for B.C.'s forest sector amid softwood duties, trade war

Commercial truck hits B.C. highway overpass, losing lumber load and snarling traffic

British Columbia's Highway Patrol says another commercial truck has hit an overpass in Metro Vancouver, causing no visible damage, but snarling traffic on Wednesday. Police say a load of lumber the tractor trailer was hauling along Highway 99 hit the Blundell Road overpass.

Commercial truck hits B.C. highway overpass, losing lumber load and snarling traffic

Consumers could find 'meaningful savings' as carbon price ends: Desjardins

Canadians can expect to feel the absence of the consumer carbon price at the pumps immediately but it may take longer to notice a difference in the price of other goods, a new report released Wednesday suggests. The analysis by Desjardins Economics comes less than a week after Prime Minister Mark Carney and his new Liberal cabinet ordered that the consumer levy be set to zero on April 1.

Consumers could find 'meaningful savings' as carbon price ends: Desjardins

End of consumer carbon tax leaves $1.5-billion hole in B.C. budget

The budget released earlier this month shows the province was forecasting revenue of just over $2.5 billion from the tax in the 2024-25 fiscal year, while the estimated cost of the climate action tax credit was $995 million.