Prince George Free Press, December 13, 2013

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FRIDAYDECEMBER 13

CITY: Council nixes plan to charge for secondary suites

www.pgfreepress.com | newsline: 250.564.0005

STOJKO DAZZLES HOLIDAY FESTIVAL ON ICE

City tackling heavy snowfall The forecast for the next seven days is more and more snow. Council heard Wednesday all of the city’s plowing equipment will be on the roads today and through the weekend. The city hopes to get to the residential streets by Friday and the crews will be working through the weekend. Private contractors are also being added to the fleet, which doubles the number of vehicles available to the city. To learn more about the snow removal efforts, a snow operations map can be found at www.princegeorge.ca

Nelson Mandela Teresa MALLAM/Free Press Three-time world skating champ Elvis Stojko may be known for his fancy footwork on the ice but Sunday he has lots of magic in his hands too. Stojko was one of several champion skaters to perform Sunday at Holiday Festival on Ice at CN Centre.

Picket lines up Sat. Bill Phillips editor@pgfreepress.com Picket lines will be up at city facilities at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning. “Every (city facility) that is open, we will have pickets up,” said CUPE local 1048 president Janet Bigelow yesterday. CUPE Locals 399 and 1048 served 72hour strike notice on the city Wednesday following an interim ruling on essential services by the Labour Relations Board Wednesday. “Nothing is set in stone,” said Bigelow. “The ruling was put in place so we can carry on.” Under the order, the Labour Relations Board determined that essential services

will include all or portions of snow clearing, utilities operations, equipment operators in parks and solid waste departments (on call for spill response), police support services, fleet services (eight positions), fire payroll, animal control officer (on call as needed), IT department (on call), civic facilities (two positions), wastewater collection and treatment (nine positions), water plants and distribution (four positions). The unions have agreed to give 72 hours notice of any picketing or strike action at the Kin arenas, the Coliseum, CN Centre or Elksentre. They also agree to allow the victim services coordinator to work and that if they picket the RCMP detachment or firehall, that that it is done in a way that members of the public and fire and police vehicle have unimpeded access.

Should there be strike action, the city will use management and excluded personnel “to the best extent” possible and those who are deemed essential will be expected to work 60 hours per week. However, those essential services could still change, said Bigelow, as the ruling is only interim and negotiations over essential service levels could continue. As to negotiations on a new contract, Bigelow said the union is still willing to negotiate. “The union has always been willing to come to the table if there is something new and meaningful put on the table,” she said. “If not, then it’s just a waste of taxpayers’ money.” Operations Superintendent Bill Gaal could not be reached for comment at press time.

condolence book From December 11 to 18, individuals are invited to visit the YMCA in Prince George located at 2020 Massey Drive to pay their respects by signing a memorial book in Nelson Mandela’s honour. The book will be forwarded to YMCA Canada who will present them to the Mandela family through the Canadian Friends of Nelson Mandela.

INSIDE TODAY: Voices........................................P10 Community...............................P15 Datebook.................................P24 Driveway...................................P25 Careers.....................................P28 Classifieds................................P29 Sports.......................................P36

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