Ex-workers feeling vindicated by ruling
The head of the union representing Saskatchewan Transportation Company workers who lost their jobs last year says he is pleased with an “overwhelming” labour arbitration decision in their favour.
“That old adage that, ‘Hey listen, you can’t fight the government’? Well, we said we’re going to fight the government … and we’re vindicated now,” Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1374 president Eric Carr said.
In his decision, arbitrator William Hood concluded the Crown corporation, in the process of shutting down, violated the Canada Labour Code by not forming a joint planning committee or following the rules for mass terminations.
The 95 STC employees terminated on June 1, 2017, were entitled to 16 weeks’ severance but only received a little over seven weeks’ pay, Hood wrote before awarding each of them the outstanding wages plus $100. It’s unclear exactly how much the workers are collectively owed, but it’s thought to be around $1.2 million.
Based on the legal advice it received, the government did not believe it was violating the Canada Labour Code when it began the process of shutting down STC, according to Crown Investments Corp. Minister Joe Hargrave.
However, the Prince Albert Carlton MLA told reporters Wednesday in Regina that the government “accepts” the arbitrator’s decision and is “happy” to abide by it. The government subsequently confirmed there will not be an appeal.
“We’re happy to finalize that and get that payment out to those people as soon as possible,” Hargrave said, noting that the government opted not to settle because “sometimes both sides need to hear what an independent arbitrator has to say.”
Hood, in his decision, declined to award ATU Local 1374 the $500,000 in punitive damages it requested, but questioned why STC would start negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement while its employees were being fired.
Carr said while the decision makes it clear that STC should have listened to the union’s concerns, it is too little, too late for the employees cut loose almost 12 months ago.
“I don’t think this decision eases the fact that they lost their jobs … I don’t think it eases the fact that when the Wall government was elected it said it would not touch any Crown corporations,” the Calgary-based union official said.
“It doesn’t ease the fact that these people believe they were lied to by their elected representatives when they voted. That’s the part, I think, that probably bothers people more than anything.”
The governing Saskatchewan Party has repeatedly tweaked its position on Crown corporations. Before storming to victory in 2007, the party pledged that all Crowns would remain publicly owned should it form government.
More recently, the government passed a law allowing for the partial sale of any Crown corporation — and then partially repealed it in the face of intense public pressure and speculation about SaskTel hitting the auction block.
Former Finance Minister Kevin Doherty unveiled the plan to shutter STC in his 2017-18 budget, which aimed to halve a $1.2 billion deficit. It was among the most controversial decisions included in the deeply unpopular budget.
While the government has insisted closing down the 71-yearold bus company will save taxpayers $85 million over five years, others disagreed. Carr said the decision should have been an election issue.
“They didn’t care what we had to say at that time,” he said, referring to the union’s objections to the shutdown plan. “They were going to do what they were going to do, and that’s what they did.”