Tribune
WEEKEND Friday JULY 6, 2012
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VOL. 23 NO. 27
REACHING 10,675 HOMES WEEKLY
Not ready to fall
Smiling scenes from this year’s Street Party...............Page A12
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Black Diamond, Alta’s Tyler Thomson struggles to hang on during Sunday’s bull riding at the Williams Lake Stampede. Monica Lamb-Yorski photo
Strike targets liquor warehouses Tom Fletcher Black Press The B.C. Government and Service Employees Union launched strike action Tuesday with a oneday walkout at liquor distribution warehouses in Vancouver, Victoria and Kamloops. BCGEU chief negotiator David Vipond said the strike action is to protest the B.C. government’s plan to sell off the three warehouses as well as back the union’s demands. The union rejected an offer of a two per cent
wage increase this year and another 1.5 per cent next year, and is seeking about six per cent over two years after three years without a raise. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon responded to the union’s strike vote by suggesting the wage offer could be withdrawn. The government describes its current negotiating mandate as “co-operative gains,” where pay increases must be financed by cost reductions in work arrangement. Vipond said the BCGEU’s pro-
posal to raise revenue by opening more government liquor stores on Sundays was rejected. When the plan to sell liquor distribution operations was revealed in February’s budget, the union was told its jobs would be protected in the transition to a private operator if the Sunday opening proposal was withdrawn, he said. The BCGEU also represents deputy sheriffs, provincial jail staff, child protection social workers, forestry and forest firefighting staff. The union has not indicated what the next strike ac-
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tion may be, but has vowed not to interfere with any public safety or emergency service duties. Another union proposal was to expand the duties of deputy sheriffs from court security to include traffic enforcement. That was also rejected with no explanation, Vipond said. “We can put three deputy sheriffs on the street for the price of two RCMP [officers],” he said. “They tried it in Alberta, and it was so successful they doubled the crew doing it in just a few months.”