A A bus stoppage may be near » Douglas College students likely relatively unaffected due to SkyTrain access toa bs Bs ut Atiba Nelson Staff Reporter hances are that you may not be reading the Other Press on the bus ina week, after Oct 28. Last weekend two unions—Unifor Local 1, the union representing Metro Vancouver Transit Operators, and Unifor Local 2200, the union representing bus maintenance and Seabus workers, held strike mandate votes ahead of negotiations for a new contract with Coast Mountain Bus Company. According to a memorandum posted on the website of Local 11, 99% of their membership voted in favour of a strike action. The strike vote empowers the bargaining committee to call a strike among its membership if negotiations a Have an idea for a story? Mi news@theotherpress.ca > a - Die (4 Or ee ~— with their employer breakdown. Unifor (the amalgamation of the two Unions) and Coast Mountain Bus Company continue a second round of negotiations for a new contract, after talks broke down earlier this month. CityNews reports that Gavin McGarrigle, the Western Regional Director of Unifor, stated: “We've just come through three days of negotiations and we're starting to make some progress, although it’s slow at this stage.” The Union is seeking increased wages that align with other major transit services, longer breaks, and the hiring of more drivers. According to the BC labour Relations Code, the bargaining committee can exercise their memberships’ strike support, or “call a strike,’ within three months of an “in-favour” strike vote, but must give their employer 72 hours’ notice oa ie of a prospective strike. A looming bus strike would inconvenience students in the Lower Mainland, as many greater Vancouver-area post-secondary students commute to class via bus. Most universities and colleges are serviced primarily via bus, with Douglas College being the exception—as the campus is serviced via SkyTrain for most students. Of note is that SkyTrain services would not be affected by the bus operator strike. Both New Westminster and Coquitlam Douglas campuses are steps away from SkyTrain stations. Douglas College New Westminster is serviced by New Westminster station on the Expo Line, and Douglas College Coquitlam can be accessed by Lafarge Lake—Douglas station on the Millennium Line. According to TransLink data, available Free tech skills learning « program held in Canada ¢ Douglas Discusses: voting in the election * The Great British Columbia ShakeOut ¢ Douglas food services deemed ‘low-risk’ ..and more Photo by Billy Bui on their 2018 Transit Service Performance Review website, New Westminster station was the eighth busiest SkyTrain station in terms of daily passenger boarding. Whereas, Lafarge Lake-Douglas was 48th out of 53 SkyTrain stations with regards to total ridership. The ridership numbers at New Westminster station may be primarily student driven, as its ranking falls dramatically over the weekend. This is not the first time the Lower Mainland has faced transit unrest. In 2001, TransLink and its employees failed to reach an agreement through the bargaining process, and that produced a labour stoppage. The last bus operator strikes in Metro Vancouver occurred that year. The protracted strike lasted approximately four months and was resolved with provincial legislation mandating employees return to work. » Sessions will be held in six cities across the country Tania Arora Staff Writer he Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry is booming like never before, and it shows no sign of stopping soon. In this digital age, the entire world is running on technology. Recognizing the importance of the ICT department, West Coast Technology Foundation, a not-for-profit section of The Network Hub (TNH) in Vancouver in partnership with CodeCast and ComIT.org designed a free tech skill learning program. The curriculum is designed to teach on- the-job required skills to people looking to get into the ICT industry. According to the Government of Canada’s website, revenue for this field between 2012 and 2018 reached up from $156 billion to $193 billion—increasing by 23 percent. The website also reports that employment growth in this sector has been outpacing the overall economy since 2012. Even though there are many professionals in the ICT field, countries still face a dearth of skilled technical personnel. According to a news release by ComIT, “Pablo Listingart is the founder and executive director of ComIT, a non- profit organization providing free digital employment skills training to interested students in six cities across Canada.” The program will run in six different Canadian cities including Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Kitchener, and Toronto. The program is free of cost, which makes it more accessible. The pilot program will accommodate up to 25 people and will be held at two of TNH’s office locations in Nanaimo and downtown Vancouver. The pilot session shall commence from January to April 2020. Most classes will be held in the evenings and shall take place three times a week. The curriculum will include lessons on the language and basics of using Javascript. The program is set up to include peer support and drop-in workspaces for trainees to study and work in, between their training. The organization will also conduct a hiring event towards the end of the program, inviting ICT companies to connect with the local trainees for possible hiring. Listingart emphasizes the importance of creating such a program. “I believe in the democratization of education,” he said. “My goal was to give that first chance. There area lot of born-and-raised Canadians who are here and can't get a loan to attend a university or college, and they are still very smart and talented, but nobody gave them that first chance.” Those interested in the program can apply at Comit.org’s website.