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KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY
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JUNE 25, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 76
City payroll increased by $2.1 million in 2014 ANDREA KLASSEN
STAFF REPORTER
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
DAVE EAGLES/KTW
United Steel Workers Local 1-147 member Dar Campbell (centre) walks the picket line for a second day on Tuesday at Emterra Environmental. From left: Emterra employees Kevin Diamond and Errol McNeil, B.C. Teachers’ Federation member Dawn Aziz shows her support, Emterra employees Chad Norris and Eugene Morisseau.
STRIKE HAS RECYCLABLES IN LIMBO
General Grants says it does not have the capacity to accept material ANDREA KLASSEN
STAFF REPORTER
andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
As the strike at Emterra Environmental entered its third day yesterday, unionized workers at the recycling processing plant in Valleyview allege the company made an attempt to sneak nonunion workers across its picket line under the cover of darkness. United Steelworkers Local 1-417 president Marty Gibbons told KTW the company has not made an effort to contact the
union to negotiate an end to the strike, which prompted the city to suspend recycling pickup in Kamloops this week. “They have not responded to our last proposal,” Gibbons said. “The only action or interest in this Emterra’s shown was a cowardly attempt last night at 3 a.m. to sneak scabs across the line, which was turned back by our members.” Gibbons said Wednesday’s attempt to cross the picket line wasn’t the first of the strike. He said the company was
able to get some bottles and cans into the depot earlier this week, prompting the union to threaten secondary picket lines at Kamloops’ recycling depots. That issue has since been resolved, Gibbons said. The company’s 10 unionized workers are on strike over what Gibbons has called “ridiculously low” wages at the plant on Kelly Douglas Road, which processes the city’s recycling, as well as bottles from local depots. See WAGES, A6
Contract increases, along with snow- and fire-related overtime, are behind a jump in the number of city employees making more than $75,000 in 2014, said city CAO David Trawin. This year’s employee remuneration rolls, which contain data on employee pay above that threshold, show an additional 32 employees had a gross salary of more than $75,000, compared to 2013. In total, 256 employees made more than $75,000. Of those, 82 made more than $100,000. The numbers include vacation pay, overtime and other compensation. The city’s total payroll to staff and city councillors was more than $56 million, up from $53.9 million in 2013. Of that amount, $24.9 million went to the 82 highest-earning employees. Trawin said a new contract with CUPE staff, which included a one per cent pay raise in 2014 and another 6.5 per cent in raises over the next four years, is part of the reason for the higher salary numbers, as the increase was enough to bump some workers over the line to where their salaries must be publicly reported. “There were a lot of employees on that borderline and, before the new contract, a lot of those jobs — the engineering jobs, the higher tech jobs and the planner jobs — were just below that,” he said. Public works employees also saw more overtime in 2014 due to some
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CITY OF KAMLOOPS TOP 10 EARNERS 2014 • David Trawin, CAO: $245,560 • Byron McCorkell, director of parks and recreation: $196,264 • David Duckworth, director of corporate services: $189,966 • Sally Edwards, director of finance (retired): $188,580 • Marvin Kwiatkowski, director of development services: $183,518 • Dale McLean, fire chief: $153,685 • Lori Rilkoff, human resources director: $142,091 • Deven Matkowski, engineering manager: $129, 674 • Jeff Putnam, parks and civic facilities manager: $128,486 • Douglas Stewart, assistant director of finance: $125,483 big snow events, which required hours of plowing. David Duckworth, director of corporate and community safety, said firefighter overtime also showed up on the city’s rolls, as some Kamloops firefighters headed off to fight wildfires in West Kelowna and Lillooet. Though the province reimburses the city for those firefighting costs, Duckworth said the costs still show up on salary rolls and are reported in the city’s statement of financial information. See FIREFIGHTER, A11
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