Image: Trevor Nichols
Update (12:15 p.m.):
The BC Labour Relations Board has ruled CUPE’s original strike notice dose not comply with legal requirements, and will have to be reissued.
That means the union will have to issue a new 72-hour strike notice, which union representatives say they plan to do.
In an email statement, Commissionaires spokesperson Julie Powers says a strike will mean Kelowna’s jail will be staffed at approximately 50 per cent for the first four days, increasing to about 75 per cent until the strike ends.
Original story:
The union representing Kelowna’s jail guards says the guards’ employer is attempting to “derail” strike action through a BC Labour Relations Board challenge.
CUPE Local 338, which represents the 17 Kelowna jail guards, issued an official strike notice Monday afternoon, giving its guards the legal right to strike as of 4 p.m. today.
The guards work for Commissionaires BC, which has a contract with the City of Kelowna to provide guards at the Kelowna RCMP station.
Kelowna guards make significantly less than their counterparts in nearby cities, and have been negotiating for months for better wages.
According to the union, Commissionaires is trying to get the notice thrown out by the BC Labour Relations Board because it was sent through an email instead of a fax.
Harry Nott, CUPE’s national representative, says the challenge is “unusual,” because sending notice through email is fairly common. He also said it won’t have much of an effect on the union, other than to “throw a little fuel on the fire.”
“What they’ve done is just anger their employees more,” he said. “This will not prevent us from going on strike, it just delays us.”
“We’re going to go, we’ve made that decision already,” Nott added.
He said he expects the BC Labour Relations Board to come back with a decision as early as this afternoon, asking the union to send its notice by fax.
Nott pointed out that the union had actually given Commissionaires more than the required 72 hours strike notice, and had planned to hit the picket lines early Friday morning.
He said the union had put time and money into the kickoff of the strike, with other groups lined up to come out and show their support, and that the Labour Relations Board Challenge will disrupt those plans.
Commissionaires representative Julie Powers said she would not comment until she has a confirmation of the ruling.
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