72 hours until strike
Trevor Nichols - Dec 12, 2017 - Biz Releases

Image: Trevor Nichols

After months of fighting for better wages, guards at the Kelowna RCMP detachment have issued an official strike notice.

The guards, represented by CUPE Local 338, served their employer a 72-hour notice yesterday, putting them in a legal position to go on strike as of Dec. 14, at 4 p.m.

The 17 guards work for Commissionaires BC, which has a contract with the City of Kelowna to provide the city’s jail guards.

Commissionaires guards make $16.50 an hour, which is at least $5 an hour less than jail guards in similar, nearby communities. Not long ago, CUPE BC president Paul Faoro told Okanagan Edge Kelowna guards weren’t even making a living wage.

“Sixteen dollars and fifty cents for people who are keeping this city safe. No one in this province would think that’s a fair wage for jail guards,” he said.

The Kelowna guards voted to join CUPE earlier this year, and negotiations for a first collective agreement started shortly after that in late spring.

CUPE National Representative and lead negotiator Harry Nott said in a news release yesterday the union is close to reaching a settlement with Commissionaires, but that “our members have clearly communicated that a fair wage increase is long overdue and cannot wait.”

In the past, CUPE Local 338 president Lee Mossman has said striking would be an absolute last resort for the union.

Commissionaires spokesperson Julie Powers has consistently maintained that the union is being unreasonable in its wage demands.

She said the company has offered “very reasonable” wage increases to CUPE on three separate occasions, and the union has rejected all of them.

She wouldn’t say how much the increases were for, but said the company is “so confident” in how reasonable its offers were, it’s ready to enter into third-party negations at any time.

Check back with Okanagan Edge for more from Commissionaires, and the union.


All Biz Releases Stories