THURSDAY
S I N C E
JUNE 27, 2013
1 8 9 5 Teddy Bear picnic goes indoors
Vol. 118, Issue 100
105
$
Page 2
INCLUDING G.S.T.
PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
Family spurs donation drive for Alberta flood victims
SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER
BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
SHERI REGNIER PHOTO
Today is the last day of elementary school for 30 Grade 7 graduates from Glenmerry Elementary School. The kids busted out the front doors for the last time and will transition into high school students at J.L. Crowe Secondary School in the fall.
FortisBC locks out electrical workers BY ART HARRISON Times Staff
In a shocking move, FortisBC locked out members of Local 213 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Wednesday morning, affecting 225 employees in the B.C. Southern Interior. Those directly affected are electric employees working in generation, transmission, and distribution operations, including employees at Warfield’s System Control Centre such as power line technicians, electricians, and power systems dispatchers. The move came as a surprise to the IBEW union representatives and membership. “I got a phone call at 9 a.m. and
received a letter this morning. They told me they were going to be locking us out.” explained Rod Russell, Local 213 IBEW business manager. “FortisBC felt it was appropriate to take this action at this time to provide reliability and certainty to our customers,” explained Joyce Wagenaar, FortisBC director of communications. “Customers can expect regular electrical services, availability of our contact centre, regular billing, and crews to respond to power outages.” The two sides have been bargaining since January with the existing collective agreement expiring in February. Talks continued until mid-March when, after negotiations and mediation provided no new agreement, the union
filed strike notice. At that point the company applied to the B.C. Labour Relations Board in April to have certain services designated as “Essential Services,” and was granted the designation. FortisBC then, under Section 78 of the B.C. Labour Relations Code, took its offer directly to the voting membership. “Negotiations weren’t successful, mediation wasn’t successful, so they took it to the members,” said Russell. “The Labour Board counted the ballots and there was a 90.4 per cent return with 88.4 per cent of the membership rejected the offer.” In mid-May the union began limited See NO, Page 3
People across the West Kootenay are responding to a Trail family’s call for donations to help Albertans left destitute after devastating floods in Calgary and its outlining areas last week. John Howell, wife Teresa and daughter “We have had Trina felt a call to calls from duty this week, and all over the have rented a 53-foot trailer to park outKootenays from side their Glenmerry people wanting home in hopes of fillto donate but ing it with household goods and non- pernot able to get ishable food items to to our house .” send to flood-affected JOHN HOWELL areas next week. “We’ve been on the phone all morning to find out the best place to send the trailer,” said Howell on Tuesday. “I have been told that the Calgary Drop-in centre has over 800 people in it right now who have been left with nothing.” Howell chose that destination, which is in a temporary site in northeast Calgary, and Overland West Freight Lines has offered to transport the trailer to the destination for free. Wednesday, as Howell and his family waited for the trailer to arrive, they were busy hauling clean and slightly used wares to the curb. See PROM, Page 3
MONTROSE
Boil notice lifted BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
The Village of Montrose officially rescinded its two-year boil water advisory and distributed a “Water Condition Normal” notice to its residents on Wednesday. Since February 2011, the village has been on a “Boil Water Notice” imposed by Interior Health Authority (IHA) because sample tests detected persistent low levels of total coliforms, a bacterial indicator of water contamination. “With successful implementation of water treatment, the village now provides residents See SAMPLES, Page 3
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