The BC Labour Relations Board has issued reasons for its March 24, 2000 decision declaring invalid four strike votes by a CUPE local in four interior school districts.
The strike votes involved support staff employees of School District No. 19 (Revelstoke), School District No. 53 (Okanagan Similkameen), School District No. 67 (Okanagan Skaha) and School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap). The Labour Relations Board held that the CUPE Local 523 had failed to meet the requirements of section 59(1) of the Labour Relations Code. That section stipulates that parties must exchange all their proposals and discuss their respective positions on each other’s proposals before a strike vote can be taken. The four school boards, the Okanagan Labour Relations Council and the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association were represented by Harris & Company counsel.
(Full Reasons for Decision)