Game on! For now.
The B.C. Lions will battle the Edmonton Eskimos for first place in the West on Saturday night at B.C. Place Stadium after unionized workers tentatively agreed to a new contract.
But labour peace at the taxpayer-owned stadium may not last long.
Members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union local 1703 voted 89 percent last month to strike and served 72-hour notice last Wednesday. Negotiators for the union and B.C. Pavilion Corporation reached a new deal late Monday, but it will expire on May 31, 2012, during the Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Whitecaps sophomore Major League Soccer season and before the Lions kick off their next Canadian Football League campaign.
The union is recommending members accept the contract. Voting is Friday and Saturday at the Georgian Court Hotel.
The union, which represents ushers, security guards, first aid attendants and skilled tradespeople, returned to talks with PavCo last week and opted not to disrupt the Whitecaps season finale on Oct. 22. Talks through mediator Mark Brown hit a snag in early September. The union was unhappy with the stadium hiring contractors to handle security and the Whitecaps so-called soccer curtain to obscure empty seats on level 4. Key demands included job security and anti-bullying language.
My understanding is they got the language they wanted to get on harassment and anti-bullying, BCGEU president Darryl Walker told the Courier. It would be fair to say [B.C. Place] has not been the most harmonious of workplaces. We believe that bullying should be pushed into the past.
The new contract includes no pay raise because of the provincial wage freeze. Tradespeople, building and event maintenance workers earn $29.59 per hour under the four-year contract that expired May 31. At the low-end, event housekeepers and hosts earn $13.99 per hour. New workers get 15 per cent less until their pay is topped up with a retention bonus after achieving 100 hours.
