QUALICUM BEACH – Progress has been made to settle a municipal labor dispute that has significantly impacted the Town of Qualicum Beach. On September 1 Qualicum Beach Town Council announced that it had given conditional agreement to the recommendations of the Labor Relations Board mediator who had been called in to help end the lengthy dispute.
As of September 1 only one condition remained in the way of a full settlement. The final hurdle requires the Union to confirm that it will agree to the removal of the IT Coordinator position from the Bargaining Unit. This change is considered consistent with mediated discussions that took place on August 26 and is an issue that must be resolved prior to ratification.
“There was a real impasse regarding the financial elements of this agreement and as such we have laid out conditions that would help us move to accept the Unions request for 2 percent per year. These were agreed upon and we believe they must be in place in order to have a settled agreement. It is now up to the union to take this last and final step to bring our employees back to work,” explained Mayor Teunis Westbroek.
In a media release the Town stated: “We would like to thank our residents and businesses for their understanding, patience and support during this difficult period. We are looking forward to getting our union employees back to work.”
Unionized staff working for the Town began strike action at the end of July once negotiations had broken down.
