The City of Prince George's unionized employees will be in a legal strike position on Saturday morning but will take to the picket lines for only one day.
Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 399 president Gary Campbell said Friday that the strike will begin at 8 a.m. and end at 10 p.m. Saturday and will be followed by a work to rule campaign.
"We don't want turn Prince George upside down," Campbell said when asked why members won't stay out until a deal is reached. "We're trying to be as reasonable as possible but we're still trying to show the employer that we're serious, that we will go on strike."
During the work to rule, Campbell said workers will strictly adhere to the word of the contract and refused to work any overtime.
"We're going to take breaks when we should, we're going to start our shifts and end our shifts when we should," Campbell said. "There are lots of city employees that work through their lunches, work through their coffee breaks, start a little bit early, work a little bit late and there's going to be none of that."
The picket lines will be up "at every city place where there is a unionized city employee working," Campbell said.
Those include city-run recreational facilities like the CN Centre, Kin Centre, Prince George Coliseum and Elksentre as well as the Civic Centre. Four Seasons Pool has been closed since Dec. 2 for annual maintenance and isn't scheduled to reopen until Jan. 6.
CUPE members had rejected a "final offer" from the city of a four-year contract with a two per cent wage increase in the third and fourth years. It had been previously reported that the offer was a three-year deal and the question put to residents in a phone survey also referred to a three-year contract.
The sides have not returned to the bargaining table since then.
The strike had originally been scheduled to start Friday afternoon but was delayed while essential services were determined. The Labour Relations Board issued an interim essential services order Wednesday afternoon.
The city has set up a special section on their website (www.princegeorge.ca), accessible from the homepage, for job action updates.
