[news] Union rep "removed" after condemning RAV

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http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=1339

Georgia Straight      11 March 2004

Straight Talk

Union rep "removed" after condemning RAV

By Charlie Smith

A union representative has claimed that the Canadian Auto Workers "removed"
him as a spokesperson after he refused to endorse the B.C. Federation of
Labour's position on TransLink's three-year strategy and 10-year outlook.

Bus driver Jim Houlahan told the Straight that he was instructed last year
to write and present CAW Local 111's views at a December 9 TransLink
meeting. For the past several years, Houlahan has spoken on behalf of his
union at various city council and TransLink meetings.

Houlahan, a former union president, said that his local had previously
opposed the $1.5-billion-to-$1.7-billion RAV project because it was a huge
expenditure of public money that would do very little to reduce congestion.


"This line is not a good investment," Houlahan said. "It's not good for bus
riders and for my local."

However, he said, the B.C. Federation of Labour had already decided it would
support TransLink's three-year strategy and 10-year outlook, which included
$370-million for the RAV project.

"When I recognized...that I couldn't say what was necessary to represent my
local's interest without running into a contradiction or conflict with the
Fed position--and made them [CAW] aware of this problem--I was removed as
speaker," Houlahan said.

B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair and CAW national director
Anne Davidson did not return calls from the Straight by deadline.

A February 26 B.C. Federation of Labour news release urged Greater Vancouver
Regional District directors to support TransLink's plan, which passed by a
single vote the next day. Sinclair claimed in the release that if the plan
wasn't approved, "those who depend on public transit will suffer the most."


Houlahan made several public presentations last year stating that the RAV
project will not come close to achieving its targeted ridership of 100,000
per day. He has argued that this will result in huge public subsidies,
leading to funding cuts to the bus system that will harm transit users.

CAW Local 111 president Don MacLeod gave the presentation to the TransLink
board supporting the overall plan but criticizing the number of new buses.
MacLeod told the Straight that his union's political-action committee, which
included Houlahan, endorsed the B.C. Federation of Labour's position.

"I still have the same concerns about RAV that we raised initially," he
said. However, MacLeod claimed that TransLink would have cut bus-service
hours next September if the three-year plan wasn't approved.

Andy Ross, a vice-president of the Office and Professional Employees'
International Union Local 378, told the Straight that his union also
publicly opposed the RAV project last year before the TransLink board.

Ross, who also chaired the B.C. Federation of Labour transportation
committee, said that if GVRD directors didn't approve the funding in the
three-year transportation plan, TransLink would have cut bus operations and
bought fewer new buses.

"Our concern was if the plan went down, we don't believe that would kill
RAV," Ross said.

OPEIU Local 378 and CAW Local 111 each ratified contracts with TransLink or
its subsidiaries calling for an eight-
percent wage increase over three years. CUPE 7000, which represents SkyTrain
workers, received a slightly larger increase. Ross said there was no
agreement with TransLink to support the three-year plan in return for wage
hikes.

The 10-year outlook proposes increasing the bus fleet from 1,200 to 1,600 by
2013. A previous TransLink plan, which was cancelled with the defeat of the
vehicle levy, proposed increasing the bus fleet to 1,800 by 2006.

Houlahan criticized labour leaders for putting pressure on Coalition of
Progressive Electors councillors Fred Bass, Tim Louis, and Anne Roberts.
They opposed the three-year strategy and 10-year outlook for undermining
transit service. "Those people were hung out to dry, and that pisses me
off," Houlahan said. "Hats off to them for standing strong to that
pressure."

TransLink announced last October that it would buy 228 trolley buses from
Winnipeg-based New Flyer Industries Ltd., which has workers represented by
the Canadian Auto Workers.

Less than two months after TransLink approved the purchase, New Flyer's
controlling shareholder, U.S.based KPS Special Situations Fund, announced
the sale of New Flyer to U.S.based Harvest Partners. KPS states on its Web
site (www.kpsfund.com/) that it has worked "constructively" with major
industrial and service unions in the United States and Canada, sponsoring
many transactions in partnership with unions.