Province says it will pay STC workers despite federal appeal

The province says it has no intention of “changing direction” regarding award payments the now-shuttered Saskatchewan Transportation Company was ordered to pay by a labour arbitrator in April now that that ruling has been appealed by Canada’s attorney general.

Last Monday, the office of the Attorney General of Canada, Jody Wilson-raybould, filed an appeal in the Federal Court of Canada seeking to overturn an April 27 decision by arbitrator William F.J. Hood.

A grievance was filed by the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1374 following the Saskatchewan government’s announcement it would shut down STC on May 31, 2017. Hood ruled the STC didn’t give its employees 16-weeks’ notice and awarded 95 former workers what worked out to be eight weeks and one day’s pay. He also awarded the union $9,500 in damages for failing to establish a joint planning committee after the announcement as per Canada Labour Code rules.

The federal government wants the federal court to send the grievance back to the arbitrator following a judicial review.

It claims in a notice of application filed May 28 that Hood erred in law and acted outside his jurisdiction when he applied parts of the Canada Labour Code, when he awarded the former employees pay in lieu of notice and when he awarded the union $100 per employee for the failure to establish a joint planning committee.

It also claims he erred by including the employees that voluntarily left STC prior to its closure as part of the total number of affected employees in order to calculate the 50 employee threshold set out by the Canada Labour Code, as well as in determining that the STC operated as one industrial establishment rather than working within three distinct industrial establishments.

The attorney general’s claims have not been proven in court.

“We understand that the federal government has requested a judicial review of the arbitrator’s decision on the Saskatchewan Transportation Company (STC) interpretation of the Canada Labour Code.

The Government of Saskatchewan received and accepted Mr. Hood’s decision, as indicated a few weeks ago,” it said in a statement sent to the Starphoenix on Monday.

Following the arbitrator’s ruling, Saskatchewan’s Crown Investments Corporation Minister Joe Hargrave told reporters that the government “accepts” Hood’s decision.

“We’re happy to finalize that and get that payment out to those people as soon as possible,” Hargrave had told reporters in Regina.

Eric Carr, president of the ATU 1374, had no comment when reached on Monday.

University of Saskatchewan assistant professor with the College of Law Keir Vallance explained that Hood would have been operating under a federally regulated collective agreement and under the Canada Labour Code.

“While the dispute itself dealt with all parties basically within Saskatchewan, it was governed by federal rules.

“So that’s why the federal government would have some possible stake in this dispute, even though they weren’t a direct party to it,” he said.

In Hood’s written decision, he said that because the STC transported passengers over provincial borders, it was subject to federal labour law.

Unless there is a judicial order requiring a stay or delay in payments to the employees, they would proceed as normal, Vallance said.