HandyDart union urged to OK flu shot trips

Striking HandyDart drivers are being urged to run more essential services trips to carry passengers who need to get H1N1 flu vaccinations.

MVT Canadian Bus, the company contracted by TransLink to run the custom transit service in Metro Vancouver, has asked the Amalgamated Transit Union to agree to a revised essential services order allowing vaccination trips.

The strike began Oct. 26, stranding many disabled and elderly HandyDart users, but so far the Labour Relations Board has only declared medical trips for cancer treatment and renal dialysis to be essential.

MVT vice-president John Siragusa said revising the order would "protect our passengers and exercise caution in light of the H1N1 flu pandemic."

Siragusa said some HandyDart clients suffer from chronic health conditions that make them more vulnerable if they catch swine flu.

Union local president Dave Watt said MVT has other ways to transport select passengers without expanding the essential services designation.

He noted the LRB order provides for up to 100 taxi trips a day.

"They have that capacity right now," Watt said. "There's enough taxi rides to handle anybody who wants to get their flu shots."

Talks resumed this week between the two sides after an offer from the company was put to a membership vote last Friday and rejected by a large margin.