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UPDATED: Labour board reduces Glade and Harrop ferry crossings

Previously the Kootenay Lake Ferry strike applied only to the Balfour-Kootenay Bay ferry
glade1
The cable ferry at Glade on the Kootenay River.

The cable ferries at Glade and Harrop, starting Jan. 2, will run on a reduced schedule during the Kootenay Lake ferry strike. 

The new schedule was decided by the B.C. Labour Relations Board on Dec. 27 following an application from the B.C. General Employees Union. Whenever a strike raises issues of essential services, it is the board's role to decide the details of those services. 

Normally the Glade Ferry (a three-minute crossing) operates on demand, from 5 a.m. to 2:20 a.m., and the Harrop Ferry (a five-minute crossing) operates on demand 24-7.

The new decision states that the Harrop Ferry must run eight round trips per day, and the Glade Ferry 16 round trips per day, on a schedule decided by the employer, Western Marine Pacific.

The labour board stated the reduced service could begin Dec. 30, but Western Marine Pacific said on its website the change wouldn't begin until Jan. 2.

In addition, the essential services order states that the ferries will run on demand for the following passengers: people with medical appointments, students crossing to attend classes (or their parents for drop-off purposes), teachers and school administrators, ambulances, RCMP vehicles, health professionals, emergency dispatches, a person responding to a mental or physical health emergency, snow removal vehicles, and vendors making scheduled deliveries to the Procter General Store including fuel trucks. 

Before this essential service order, there was no restriction on the Harrop and Glade Ferries — the strike action by the BCGEU, which began Nov. 3, only affected the Balfour-Kootenay Bay ferry.

But in mid-December, the union applied to the LRB for an amended essential service order that would affect Glade and Harrop-Procter. The union requested that there be no scheduled sailings and only the essential services listed above (except snowplows and the grocery store deliveries, which were added by the LRB at the request of the employer).

The LRB characterizes its Dec. 27 decision as a middle ground.

"Such a direction," the decision document states, "which will have the potential effect of reducing ferry traffic, serves the union’s purpose of increasing pressure on the employer through a reduction in services, while not creating a situation where residents not meeting one of the of the designated categories in the essential service order will be essentially stuck on the east side of the river for lengthy periods."

The LRB order states that the BCGEU must have ferry operators available for all required crossings. 

 

 



Bill Metcalfe

About the Author: Bill Metcalfe

I have lived in Nelson since 1994 and worked as a reporter at the Nelson Star since 2015.
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