A spokesperson for the union representing Kootenay Lake ferry workers says it will soon return to the bargaining table with the company that runs the crossing.
The BC Government Service Employees’ Union representing 80 members of Local 2009 is pressing employer Western Pacific Marine for better wages and working conditions, as well as improved training and employee retention.
The two sides have been at an impasse since late August, when the union held a three-day strike.
Since then the ferry, which runs two vessels between the Balfour terminal and Kootenay Bay, has shut down intermittently because the union does not want its members working overtime during the labour dispute.
The union spokesperson told the Star in an email Tuesday that both sides have agreed to resume talks, but a date has not yet been set.
Western Pacific Marine criticized the union in early October for requesting a pay package “that would make ferry service on Kootenay Lake more costly than the company could sustain.”
Earlier this week the union reached tentative agreements with WaterBridge Ferries and Waterbridge Equipment, which operate inland ferries on the Arrow Lakes and elsewhere in B.C.
Related:
• Kootenay Lake ferry labour dispute goes public
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