Image: Alanna Kelley
The president of the union representing jail guards in Kelowna says Commissionaires is treating employees more like fast food labourers than the specialized work force they are.
The guards are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 338, and last week renewed their threat to strike, after negotiations between Commissionaires and the union broke down.
Lee Mossman, the president of CUPE Local 338, says Commissionaires is paying its employees “the lowest price they can get away with,” causing retention issues and “health and safety concerns” among workers.
He says jail guards who work for the company are paid as much as $15 an hour less than their peers in similar cities like Kamloops, Penticton and Nanaimo.
Commissionaires is a private security company contracted by the City of Kelowna to provide guards in the city’s jail.
Mossman says that, since the organization began winning the contracts for the work more than a decade ago, it has managed to dramatically cut wages of jail guards.
He says the 17 CUPE members who work as jail guards for the company make about $16 an hour, meaning they are some of the lowest paid in the province.
“You can’t treat jobs like these like fast food [employers would], with a transient workforce, where you get the lowest paid person that walks through the door. We don’t think that police services like that should be handled with that kind of attitude; it’s specialized work,” he says.
“We believe that all employees should be treated with respect and have the ability to make a living wage,” he added.
Commissionaires has yet to respond to Okanagan Edge’s interview requests, but the company will soon ask the BC Labour Relations Board to classify the jail guards as an essential service, which would limit their ability to go on strike.
Mossman was quick to point out what he considered the irony of calling the jail guards’ work essential, while refusing to pay them a “fair and reasonable” wage.
“If you’re telling the labour board that the duties of our members are so important that no one else can do them, why are you paying them almost minimum wage?” he asked.
The labour board hearing will take place Oct. 19, and Mossman expects a decision shortly after.
He said that, even though the CUPE guards voted in support of strike action last week, the union plans to go back to the negotiation table after the decision.
“Our intention is to go back to the table and see what we can do. There’s no plans to take any type of job action, until we’ve exhausted every opportunity and turned over every stone,” he said.
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