STC LOOKS TO LABOUR BOARD
Argues province didn’t follow process
The provincial government didn’t follow proper processes when it announced the shuttering of the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) in this month’s budget, says the president of the union that represents the 224 workers who will lose their jobs at the end of May.
Eric Carr, president of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) local 1374, said STC — despite being owned by the Saskatchewan government — is federally regulated because its buses cross provincial borders.
Under the Canada Labour Code, employers who lay off 50 or more people at the same time must give at least 16 weeks notice to the federal Minister of Employment and Social Development and the affected union.
Carr said he learned of the Saskatchewan bus company’s fate when the provincial budget came out on March 22. The STC is set to shut down on May 31, which gave union members just 10 weeks notice.
The union local has filed a complaint with the federal labour relations board, asking it to intervene in the matter.
Carr said “a lot of people are very confused” about what should have happened when the province decided to shut down STC.
“Being the head of a labour union, not too often do we go through this kind of thing. It’s not the normal operation of business to have an entity shut down that’s been in the works since 1946,” he said.
“As part of the wind down of STC, appropriate steps have been taken in accordance with the Canada Labour Code. The 224 affected employees will receive fair treatment in accordance with corporate policies,” provincial government spokeswoman Lisa Danyluk wrote in an emailed statement.
The government has said it decided to shut down STC because ridership has been dropping for years and the company hasn’t turned a profit since 1979. The government estimates it will save more than $10 million a year by scrapping the company.
Many people in Saskatchewan have expressed outrage, arguing the STC provides an essential service in rural and remote areas and that the company was never supposed to be a money-making endeavour.