UPDATE: IBEW Local 213 employees set up picket lines
By Nelson Daily Staff
Members of the IBEW Local 213 took to the picket lines Thursday after FortisBC locked out employees Wednesday.
FortisBC employees received the lockout notice from management just after coffee break Wednesday.
The mood on the line at the FortisBC Generation headquarters in South Slocan was somber as picket captains organized schedules for IBEW Local 213 members to man reporting stations for employees.
The last time there was a strike at the power company was in 2001. The job action lasted just short of four months said one worker on the line.
IBEW Local 213 members on the line were hopeful the lockout would be settled soon.
However, workers at the South Slocan Generation headquarters were already erecting tents and were in the process of setting up a burn barrel.
FortisBC and IBEW Local 213 have been without a contract since January 31, 2013.
No new talks have been scheduled.
IBEW Local 213 locked out after FortisBC initiates Essential Services Order
FortisBC initiated its Essential Services Order Wednesday to lock out more than 240 IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Local 213 employees in the BC Southern Interior, including workers in Castlegar, Trail, Rossland, Warfield, Grand Forks and South Slocan.
“The action taken today (by FortisBC) is part of a process with the B.C. Labour Relations Board in a response to the union job action,” Joyce Wagenaar, Director of Communications for FortisBC told The Nelson Daily Wednesday from Kelowna.
“FortisBC respects the right for employees to take legal job action,” Wagenaar added.
“In order to activate the Essential Services Order the union has to have a full withdrawal of services or the company must exercise a lockout for the purpose of putting the order in place.
“That was the action we took today because we wanted to have a certainty around public and employee safety.”
IBEW Local 213 business manager Rod Russell, while not surprised by the FortisBC decision to lockout employees, is disappointed because he feels the parties are very close on key stumbling points.
“We’re very close . . . so it’s very frustrating,” Russell said.
“You’ve always got that eternal optimism in bargaining that we’ll get there and make a deal,” Russell adds. “(I feel) this is just posturing by the company.”
The IBEW Local 213 represents employees various generation, transmission and distribution operations, including power line technicians, electricians and system power dispatchers.
IBEW also represents employees on the gas side of FortisBC in a different collective agreement. The gas employees will not be impacted by this job action.
FortisBC and IBEW Local 213 have been without a contract since January 31, 2013.
The has been ongoing negotiations since early January with no movement on a key issue of changing job classification language the company has proposed.
Russell said the company offered a wage package that included 2% increase with no retro pay. The union countered with 3% and full retro pay.
The roadblock had IBEW Local 213, supported by a 90-plus percent vote, to issue 72-hour strike notice to FortisBC May 10, 2013.
In a rare move, FortisBC forced the IBEW Local 213 membership to vote on its final contract proposal through a mail out ballot.
Russell said IBEW Local 213 members, with 90.4% ballot return, voted 88.4 percent to reject the proposal.
“(FortisBC) havetheir reasons and we’ve got ours so I call (lockout) a difference of opinion,” Russell explained.
Wagenaar said the lockout was necessary to protect FortisBC customers.
“For our customers, the Essential Services Order was activated to assure we could continue to supply reliable electric service,” Wagenaar said.
“So certainly our customers will continue to receive electricity service to their homes and business throughout the labour disruption.
“We will continue to be available through our contact center,” Wagenaaradds. “Customers will continue to receive billing statements from us and crews will respond to power outages.”
The last work stoppage at FortisBC lasted four-months.
Russell hopes this dispute doesn’t drag on for that length of time.
“I certainly hope not,” he said.
“The longer it goes our guys are going to be affected and the company is going to be affected. The lower, middle managers, they’re going to be affected. The people . . . the public and people who won’t cross the picket line or workers that say can’t complete a subdivision, for example, will be affected.
“But I don’t want to even speculate to the time.”
Russell said his members would start walking picket lines Thursday.
FortisBC locks out IBEW 213 members
FortisBC locked more than 220 IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) 213 employees in Castlegar, Trail, Rossland, Warfield and South Slocan Wednesday.
FortisBC and IBEW Local 213 have been without a bargained contract since January 31, 2013.
The parties have been negotiating since early January with no resolution.
However, bargaining hit a standstill forcing the IBEW 213 to issue 72-hour strike notice May 10, 2013, in order to step up job action.
IBEW 213 members supported the bargaining committee with a strike vote in the high 90 percent range.
FortisBC forced the members to a final offer vote on a recent contract proposal.
IBEW 213 members rejected that contract proposal by more than 80 percent.
FortisBC and the IBEW 213 have agreed on an essential services order that was issued by the BC Labour Relations Board. The LRB order guarantees the public will not be affected during this dispute.
Essential services are those the Labour Relations Board considers necessary or essential to prevent immediate and serious danger to the health, safety or welfare of the residents of B.C.
No new talks have been scheduled.
