AUPE found in contempt of court
Posted Apr 29, 2013 3:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It looks like striking AUPE members will be heading back to work.
A Court of Queen’s Bench justice has found the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees in contempt of court for an illegal strike by jail guards.
The judge fined the union $100,000, and the penalty will rise significantly if the strike isn’t over by noon on Tuesday.
The judge said the union was in contempt for defying a Saturday labour board ruling that ordered Edmonton Remand Centre guards back to work.
In a separate ruling on Monday night, the labour board ordered all employees striking illegally to go back to work.
Picket lines were up at the Calgary courthouse Monday morning and mid-afternoon, while city police and private security worked inside to keep the wheels of justice turning.
Sheriffs voted Sunday to stand in solidarity with correctional workers who walked off the job citing safety concerns four days ago, and Monday afternoon clerks decided to walk off as well.
Uniformed police officers oversaw the security check in and managed the courtroom.
The sheriffs and clerks who usually work in the building carried signs and waved flags on the street outside the building most of the afternoon.
Every time a clerk walked off the job, they would be greeted by the crowd of nearly 100 AUPE members standing outside.
It appeared to be business as usual inside the courthouse with lineups moving smoothly and hearings proceeding as usual most of the day.
AUPE Vice President Carrie-Lynn Rusznak said the striking workers have no issue with the police doing their jobs.
“They are fine with it, I mean when the first shift of CPS got here this morning, they got off the bus, they were shaking their hands as they went in. There’s no animosity there’s no nothing,” said Rusznak.
Rusznak echoes the slogan scrawled on the picket signs outside the courthouse, that this action by courthouse workers like those of the correction officers is not about money but rather the health and safety of her unions membership.
