VICTORIA The employees at Gorge Vale Golf Club have voted 93 per cent in favour of a strike after reaching an impasse over wages, vacations and a new pension plan.
Picket lines could be up for the Payless Open golf tournament next month unless we can reach an agreement at our next bargaining session on May 29, Local 50 president John Burrows said. Gorge Vale employees are a sub-unit of Local 50.
One of the nagging issues is the employers refusal to allow this small group to get into a pension plan before working for 40 months, Burrows said.
The employer offered 1 per cent as of Nov. 1, 2000, 2 per cent as of Nov. 1, 2001, and 2 per cent as of Nov. 1, 2002.
The seasonal and full -time groundskeepers, one foreman and a mechanic are members of CUPE Local 50. Their collective agreement expired on Oct. 31, 2000. Negotiations began on March 15.
Local 50 also represents the City of Victoria outside workers, the Royal Oak Burial Park workers and the Victoria SPCA workers.
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Contact:
John Burrows, CUPE Local 50 President, (250) 812-6205;
Jim Lamb, CUPE National Representative, (250) 384-8048.