Courthouse sheriffs join a prison guard wildcat strike
Posted Apr 29, 2013 11:12 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Picket lines are up at the Calgary courthouse, while city police and private security work 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.
Uniformed police officers are overseeing the security check in and managing the courtroom.
It appears to be business as usual inside the courthouse with lineups moving smoothly and hearings proceeding as usual so far.
The sheriffs who usually work in the building are carrying signs and waving flags on the street outside the building today.
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.
