IN THE NEWS / Canada Energy Board Staff Appear Set To Strike
CALGARY, Jan 11 - Almost a third of the employees at Canada's National Energy Board, the country's main energy regulator, are ready to walk off the job over a wage dispute later on Monday and both sides held out little hope of a settlement before the deadline.
The union local representing 105 of the NEB's 280 Calgary-based staff said it planned to start a series of rotating strikes by Tuesday after talks aimed at reaching a wage settlement broke off over the weekend.
A board official acknowledged energy companies requiring its services could expect delays and reduced service in the case of a strike, but that major regulatory hearings, such as one over an export natural gas pipeline slated for early next week, would proceed.
The NEB is responsible for such energy industry regulatory activities as approving oil and gas pipeline projects and natural gas exports.
"We'll be implementing a number of rotating strike exercises that we can commence as early as midnight tonight (Mountain time/0200 EST/0700 GMT Tuesday)," said George Kealey, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada union local representing the workers.
The union staff, which hold such positions as clerks, communications officers and pipeline inspectors, have been without a contract since March 1998.
Kealey said the wages of the employees, which are on the Canadian federal government payroll, have been frozen for seven years. Union members voted 92 percent in favor of giving their bargainers a strike mandate.
The board refused to accept a conciliator's recommendation of a 2 percent wage hike in the first year of a new contract and a 2.5 percent increase in the second year, he said.
He also said the board balked at providing pay equity to female staff, which comprise 80 percent of the unionized workers.
"Friday and Saturday we put in the better part of two full working days with these people and all they offered us was a shell game -- moving the same money in and out," Kealey said. "It was just like shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic."
Board spokeswoman Sylvia Farrant said her side was willing to resume talks, but noted the union walked away from the table and it was up to its negotatiators to make the first move.
"We would have expected they would have tried to contact us today and they haven't. We've certainly made ourselves available to them," Farrant said.
A hearing over the proposed Vector gas pipeline from Chicago, Illinois to Dawn in southern Ontario slated to start in London, Ontario next Monday would proceed regardless of the labor dispute, she said.
"Our goal is to maintain normal services. All the hearings have been reviewed and contingency plans have been put in place. All the hearings are to prceed as normal," Farrant said.
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