EDMONTON – An Alberta arbitrator has overturned the terminations of four senior corrections officers at the Fort Saskatchewan Institution.
They were fired in July 2013 in the wake of the wildcat strike at corrections facilities across Alberta over health and safety concerns. They have been off work ever since. AUPE filed grievances contesting the terminations.
READ MORE: Correctional peace officers terminated for involvement in wildcat strike
The arbitrator ruled that the terminations be overturned, substituting them with three-month unpaid suspensions for three of the officers and a one-month unpaid suspension for the fourth.
“We’re very pleased that the arbitrator has ruled that the firings were unjustified,” said Guy Smith, President of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which represents all provincial correctional workers.
AUPE was advised of the decision, but is still waiting to receive the arbitrator’s written award, which will include the full reasons for the ruling. Once the written ruling is received, Smith said AUPE will determine what other, if any, actions should be taken.
The government can request a judicial review of the decision.
Dan Laville, a spokesman for the solicitor general, said his office is “weighing its options” and wants to see the arbitrator’s written reasons, which have not yet been released.
“We hope that the employer respects the process,” Smith added, “and puts these employees back to work as soon as possible.”
The guards were part of a strike that flared up across the province last spring when two fellow guards at Edmonton’s new remand centre were suspended after voicing safety concerns about the facility.
An agreement was reached to end the job action after the courts got involved and began to levy fines for defying back-to-work orders.
At the time, the union said the province promised not to seek retribution against striking workers. The government said no amnesty was ever offered and that it would judge each member on a case-by-case basis.
“The wildcat strike was an unfortunate situation from beginning to end,” said NDP MLA David Eggen on Thursday, “but this PC government used it as an opportunity to unleash a vindictive… sort of retribution against both these individuals and against the union, and we’re still seeing the implications of that today, with Bill 45 and 46. The reaction was entirely out of keeping with these individuals’ circumstances and I’m glad to see that an independent arbitrator did see that clearly and reverse those firings.”
With files from The Canadian Press
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