Metro Vancouver transit workers, including bus drivers and SeaBus operators, have voted nearly unanimously in favour of a strike.

Bargaining talks between employer Coast Mountain Bus Company and Unifor locals 111 and 2200 broke down three weeks ago, leading to a strike vote Thursday where a full 98 per cent of participating members threw their support behind job action.

The unions must still give 72 hours’ notice before walking off the job, and Unifor 111 president Nathan Wood said a strike won’t be necessary if Coast Mountain offers a “reasonably wage deal.”

“We’re looking forward to meeting with the employer on May 9,” Woods said after the vote.

“Hopefully they come back and have a package that we can look at and get down to negotiating again.”

Workers also said Coast Mountain, a subsidiary of TransLink, is demanding they concede benefits won during the last bus strike in 2001, which lasted 123 days.

“They want us to go backwards. Previous contracts were negotiated, people went on strike for them to get the things we’ve got now, and now they’re just trying to roll them back,” maintenance worker David Connor said.

Unifor said it’s not sharing many specific bargaining details to avoid harming the process.

TransLink issued a statement on behalf of Coast Mountain after Thursday’s vote saying it doesn’t anticipate any immediate service disruptions, and will continue working toward an agreement.

“We remain committed to reaching an acceptable negotiated settlement,” it said.

Unifor 111 represents 3,700 transit operators in Metro Vancouver, and 2200 represents another 1,000 skilled trades, support workers and SeaBus employees.