After issuing a strike notice last week, unionized staff at the Castlegar and Slocan Park StellerVista Credit Union branches put up picket lines on Wednesday, April 30.
The 11 union employees at the branches are represented by United Steelworkers Local (USW) 1-405. The job action will only affect StellerVista's Castlegar and Slocan Park locations and does not include the Greenwood or Cranbrook branches.
The strike follows about 11 months of negotiations between the union and the employer.
"We respect the right of employees to take job action, though we are very disappointed by this outcome," said StellerVista in an online statement.
"We have extended offers to both resume negotiations and participate in mediation, and we strongly encourage the union to engage with us so that we can reach an agreement and minimize inconvenience to our members."
In a statement issued last week, Local 1-405's lead negotiator Veronica Tanner said, “After more than 11 months of bargaining with this employer, they still insist on the members agreeing to no wage increases, increasing the work week, rolling back overtime pay, watering down bargaining unit protection language – essentially, they want to gut our collective agreement. The membership isn’t going to stand for it.”
The union says the main issues include a proposed wage freeze for two years and the reduction of benefits and provisions that have been in the collective agreement for decades.
StellerVista says there is a need to align the organization with current market practices and industry standards because "outdated systems and contracts" no longer meet the realities and challenges of today’s financial environment.
"For the sake of the continuing viability of the credit union, we need competitive terms throughout the Collective Agreement."
StellerVista is advising clients that services may be limited, and when open, wait times may be longer than usual at the affected branches.
USW says they will not be restricting credit union members who need to do their banking from entering the branches.
