B.C. communities welcome late reprieve to keep vital ferries running amid contract dispute [Video]

Residents in the small B.C. communities of Glade, Harrop and Procter are celebrating a temporary reprieve in a labour dispute that threatened to drastically reduce cable ferry services vital to their daily lives.

The three communities along the eastern shore of the Kootenay River — only accessible by cable ferry — were facing the possibility of a 90 per cent reduction in services starting Monday morning.

The move would have been part of escalating job action by the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) in its dispute with the ferry workers’ employer, Western Pacific Marine (WPM).

Workers have been on strike since Nov. 3 as they seek wage increases and better benefits.

On Sunday, WMP said the B.C. Labour Relations Board granted a stay on a Dec. 27 decision to permit sailings to be cut, allowing ferry services to continue as normal while the board reconsiders an essential service order.

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