Calgary — Picket lines at national parks and closings of national historic sites could signal the beginning of a sweeping public service strike unless Prime Minister Paul Martin intervenes, union officials said yesterday after Parks Canada workers launched rotating walkouts nationwide.
Contract talks broke down late Thursday night between the agency and the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents 4,800 parks workers, with both sides rejecting each other's offer. The sticking point is wages.
"Where's Paul Martin? This is just the tip of the iceberg here," said Heather Brooker, president of the national component of PSAC which represents the parks employees.
Another 130,000 PSAC members, including those who work for Revenue Canada, the Treasury Board and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, are in a legal strike position at the end of September, she said.
Parks Canada workers form a picket line at the east gate to Banff National Park on the Trans Canada Highway in Alberta on Friday. (Larry MacDougal/CP)
Striking Parks Canada workers in Whitehorse planned to deliver the message to Mr. Martin in person last night. He was visiting Yukon's capital as part of his tour of the North.
There were various disruptions and waived fees at the country's 40 national parks and 150 national historic sites yesterday.
The 18th-century French fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton, N.S., and the Fort Langley historic site in British Columbia were closed. Boat passage was stopped along the 200-kilometre Rideau Canal in Eastern Ontario and its system of locks.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, interpretative programs were suspended in Gros Morne National Park and at L'Anse aux Meadows historic site.
Union officials, who are keeping their strategy to themselves, haven't ruled out a general strike.
At the east entrance to Banff National Park, vehicles by the hundreds streamed by Kevin King, who was among more than a dozen workers on a picket line.
Many drivers honked. Others asked what was going on. Some stopped to pay an entrance fee, but nobody was collecting.
Mr. King, who is a regional vice-president with PSAC, figures Parks Canada will lose at least $90,000 a day in entrance fees at the popular Rocky Mountain playground while it balks at giving its workers "fair and reasonable" raises.
"Is that the right message to send to the new minority government of Mr. Martin?" he asked.
"The first big issue he faces is labour unrest. That could topple the government." He added that both the New Democrats and the Bloc Québécois are labour-friendly parties.
How long are his members prepared to stay off the job?
"As long as it takes," Mr. King said.
As always in labour negotiations, the issues are complex and the two sides put their own spin on the numbers.
At first, the union had asked for a salary increase of 5 per cent in each of the next three years, retroactive to the expiry of the collective agreement in August, 2003.
On Thursday, the union lowered its demand to 3 per cent a year over three years.
Depending on the job classification, Parks Canada had offered retroactive pay as well as an increase of between 5.9 per cent and 10.1 per cent over three years.
The agency said Thursday it increased the cumulative increase to about 11 per cent.
The union said the offer amounts to a 13/4-per-cent increase; the government said the union's offer would give some workers raises of between 34 and 43 per cent over three years.
Both sides said the ball is in the other's court.
"The best place to negotiate is not in the media," said Gaby Fortin, Parks Canada director-general for Western Canada and the North.
Mr. Fortin said he is concerned about the loss of revenue during the peak summer tourist season if the strike continues, but he said the agency stands by its most recent offer.
"We think it's fair and reasonable and within our budget to maintain the same level of services to the public," he said.
Travellers such as Jason Mully of Massachusetts, who was visiting the Halifax Citadel, complained that strikers were taking time out of his holiday.
"Not that I don't agree or disagree with what they're doing, but they're also impinging on my time, which their strike is not about," he said.
Dale and Eileen Jones of Calgary, who stopped briefly at the gate to Banff on their way to Invermere, B.C., said the union target of pay increases isn't out of line and complained of rising entry fees and cuts to services, such as the disappearance of washrooms at this gate.
"Raise the price at the gates, dispense of the facilities and don't pay the staff," Ms. Jones said. "Yeah, that makes sense."
