The main impediment to a settlement in the ongoing B.C. Transit dispute is whether the drivers of the Vicinity buses be required to possess a Class 4 driver’s licence (which B.C. Transit wants) or the more proficient Class 2 licence (which the union wants).
Since this disagreement cannot be resolved with a meet-in-the middle compromise, and since neither side wants to give in, the only rational solution to this dispute is for both sides to agree to have this matter settled by binding arbitration.
If either B.C. Transit or the union does not agree to binding arbitration, then it would be in the public interest for the provincial government to step in and appoint a binding arbitrator so that this matter is settled once and for all.
Darryl Green
Saanich