By: Lucaiah Smith-Miodownik, News Writer
A local union is alleging that the City of Vancouver did not bargain in good faith during agreements that were settled in August of last year. Instead, they claim, “the City violated the Labour Relations Code by
“Intentionally withholding important information about its plans to implement far-reaching workforce reductions until after bargaining had concluded and the collective agreement had been ratified.”
— Santino Scardillo, CUPE Local 15 acting president
“CUPE Local 15, which represents more than 4,000 employees with the City, Park Board, and community centres,” believes that Vancouver was aware of the possibility of upcoming layoffs “as early as June 2025.”
This summer, mayor Ken Sim called for a 0% property tax increase, despite notes from city staff that a 7% hike “would be required to maintain existing services.” To avoid the hike, Sim and ABC Vancouver instructed “city staff to find $120 million in savings or new revenues.” At the beginning of November, a leaked memo sent before the City’s release of the 2026 draft budget indicated that these savings “will mean slashing 400 city jobs,” about 270 of which were CUPE Local 15 positions. This is the information that the union alleges the City withheld.
This discrepancy comes after a change requiring unionized city employees to return to working in-office for at least three days per week, a move some considered a “backdoor method” of getting employees to quit.
CUPE Local 15 hopes to renegotiate the collective agreement based on the details omitted, or ensure the City “will not be allowed to move forward with the workforce reductions that were a result of the bad-faith conduct during the term of this collective agreement.” While the Labour Relations Board could possibly invalidate the agreement outright, the director of SFU’s labour studies program, Kendra Strauss, told the Vancouver Sun that such an outcome is unlikely. The Peak reached out to CUPE Local 15 for comment, but did not hear back by the publication deadline.
“The City has received the union’s application [to negotiate] and has retained legal counsel,” Vancouver media relations told The Peak. “The City is in the process of reviewing and responding to the application. We value our partnerships with all our unions and continue to engage with CUPE 15 in ongoing discussions pursuant to Section 54 of the BC Labour Relations Code.”
Section 54 states that “if an employer introduces or intends to introduce a measure, policy, practice, or change” that impacts employment conditions for “a significant number of employees to whom a collective agreement applies,” then “the employer must give notice to the trade union that is party to the collective agreement at least 60 days before the date on which the measure, policy, practice, or change is to be effected.” Additionally, “after notice has been given, the employer and trade union must meet, in good faith, and endeavour to develop an adjustment plan.”
For now, the union will have to wait to see if the Labour Relations Board finds the City in violation of the code.