Labour walkout halts bus service in Cape Breton Regional Municipality

The mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality said Tuesday's labour stoppage by CBRM outside workers is illegal, and is putting residents at risk.

Early Tuesday morning, Transit Cape Breton announced buses would not be running. Solid-waste facilities are also closed, and while waste collection initially got underway Tuesday, it stopped because the disposal sites weren't open.

Mayor Amanda McDougall said she is disappointed about the stoppage and calls the action by CUPE 759 workers "an illegal walkout".

McDougall said due to the illegal strike, the wellbeing and safety of residents was put at risk.

"Management and the CUPE 759 executive have been notified that those who were part of the workout have been suspended for today and will face possible or additional discipline pending further investigation," McDougall said.

In a release Tuesday afternoon, the CBRM wrote "this walkout is in direct contravention of the Nova Scotia Trade Union Act, as there is a current collective agreement in place and a strike or lockout is prohibited."

The municipality wrote that around 6,000 households didn't have garbage collected due to the walkout, and that 4,000 transit rides were cancelled.

Pending further investigation, the CBRM added, employees who walked out may face disciplinary action. 

Local members upset over job postings

In an interview with CBC News, Kevin Ivey, the president of CUPE 759 which represents the workers, said the walkout was not condoned by the union's executives, but he acknowledged that members have been upset since a tense meeting of the local last Wednesday.

He said they're irked by jobs being posted externally and given to workers who aren't in the union. They are also unhappy with CBRM's policy for accommodating people who can't perform their regular duties due to health issues.

"They chose to walk out," said Ivey. "We asked them to go to work, let the process proceed to where it should be, unfortunately we're here." 

Kathy MacLeod, national representative for CUPE, said there's been a lot of frustration in CUPE 759 over the past year. 

"Unfortunately this morning, the members spoke," said MacLeod. "We reached out to the employer yesterday ... and we also put some solutions that we thought would be a resolve for this matter, and the response we received from the city was no to our request."

An employer grievance was served to the union on Tuesday, said MacLeod, and members have been told they will be suspended with no pay for the day by the municipality.

She said representatives from the union local will meet with the CBRM tomorrow at 10 a.m. to discuss the matter, and in the meantime, members are being urged to go to work tomorrow as usual.

Earlier Tuesday, CBRM informed residents of the walkout and asked them to remove their waste from the curbside until the next collection day.

Students who rely on transit service were most affected by the work stoppage. In a release, Cape Breton University said the university only became aware of the interruption to services by social media posts. 

"Students should not be academically penalized if they miss classes today due to a lack of public transportation," the university said.