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JUNE 4, 2012 Vol. 117, Issue 108
110
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On the Town: Art of Wine Page 2
INCLUDING H.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF
Teck and unions reach tentative deal
ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALM SALMO
Sewage line leak leaves no lasting damage
BALANCING ACT
No penalties from Environment Canada
Five-year contract includes wage increase, bonus and pension boost
BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER
BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER
Times Staff
Times Staff
The city will be clear in the wake of an accidental 4.5-million-litre dump of sewage into the Columbia River in late March, according to the City of Trail’s regional district director. Robert Cacchioni said testing in the wake of the spill on the regional district’s main sewage line on the Old Trail Bridge on March 26 determined that the discharge was “non-deleterious” and posed no major risks
The fruits of a new contract are for the taking for Teck Trail Operations’ two largest unions after the sides reached a tentative collective agreement Friday. Teck and locals 480 and 9705 of the United Steelworkers reached the tentative collective agreement for Trail operations after one month of negotiations that began in earnest April 30. Although some details of the agreement are left to nail down, Doug Jones, president of United Steelworkers Local 480, said the deal was a good one, boding well for its ratification. The tentative deal is expected to carry an 18 per cent increase over five years of the contract, a 12 per cent boost in pension, and a $10,000 signing bonus. “Those are the highlights of it right now but it is a tentative agreement so we really don’t want to get too far into this before we give out the final details,” Jones said. “But those numbers are there.” The contract covers 1,180 people in Local 480 on the production and maintenance side, and 170 people in Local 9705 for the office and technical workers. Jones said the contract should be in place while “big change” takes place to the Teck workforce over the next couple of years. He pointed to the hundreds of people set to retire over the life of the new contract. “So that will be a big change, for sure,” he said. “That will also bring a lot of opportunity for new employees.” The union will schedule a ratification vote to be held over the coming days. No other terms of the agreement will be disclosed until the ratification vote is complete. Some factors that may cause the actual results to vary include difficulties in holding the ratification vote and obtaining union ratification of the tentative collective agreement. The deal follows on the heels of a “really successful bargaining in 2008” for the union’s now expired contract, after a three-month strike in 2005. In February Teck Resources Ltd. posted a record annual profit, as it looked to increase copper production and launch its oilsands operations.
See DEAL, Page 3
to aquatic or terrestrial life down stream. “There is no indication from Environment Canada or (Ministry of Environment) on potential penalties,” he said in his recent Regional District of Kootenay-Boundary (RDKB) report to city council. In all, the spill cost the city $31,060, including $12,000 for the emergency work, an additional $16,000 for joint restraints, and a bill of $2,600 from the Ministry of Environment (MOE) for staff time. The city coughed up $460 for analysis of the waste discharge.
See RDKB, Page 3
Never judge a library by its covers New KBRH library could help attract healthcare professionals BY TIMOTHY SCHAFER Times Staff
JIM BAILEY PHOTO
The Kootenay Cinch n’ Saddle 4H Club had a good showing on the weekend as it hosted a riding clinic at the Trail Horseman’s Grounds. The clinics included Western and English riding as well as exhibitions on equestrian vaulting as demonstrated by 15-year-old Korynn Weber and Kylee Shukin, 12, of the Nelson Riding Club. See story Page 9.
A new library service within the city’s hospital is expected to help Greater Trail attract and retain qualified healthcare professionals. A result of the partnership between the UBC Faculty of Medicine Southern Medical Program (SMP) and Interior Health Authority, the library on the third floor of the Kootenay
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Boundary Regional Hospital (KBRH) will provide full resources for all health disciplines within the hospital, and support third year medical students based at KBRH. Bringing together 2,000 e-journals, thousands of books (through inter-library loan), e-books and online nursing and medical tools through three computer workstations, the library will buttress the pursuit of healthy knowledge at KBRH. Ruth Rochlin, IH library manager for the Okanagan and West Kootenay, said although the service is
See LIBRARY, Page 3
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