Sechelt's unionized employees asked to get back to the bargaining table on June 21, but the District said they'll have to wait until July 4.
Chief of innovation and growth Ron Buchhorn said the talks would have to wait because senior staff members who have to be at the bargaining table are currently working the front counter.
"Quite frankly I had to make a decision. If I take people off the front counter we're really inconveniencing the taxpayers at a very critical time and similarly if the talks didn't go anywhere, the preparation for July 1, there's only John [Mercer] and I to look after that stuff, so I said I just can't see ourselves doing it this week and taking some key people out of the District who are maintaining priority services," Buchhorn said. "So I asked for the meetings to be next week."
A meeting has been set for July 4, and the union has requested that a mediator be there. Local union representative Judith Steele said her members are "disappointed" the District is making them wait.
Steele said the union offered to bring in two tax clerks to free up front counter staff, but the District refused her request. Buchhorn told Coast Reporter he hadn't "heard anything to that effect."
"Normally, they should be bringing that to my attention, and I haven't heard anything," he said.
The strike of Sechelt's 45 unionized employees covered under BCGEU (BC Government Employees Union) is now entering its third week and exempt staff in Sechelt are picking up the slack.
Even the District's top dog, Buchhorn, has been sweeping gravel away from storm sewers and picking up garbage from public parks in downtown Sechelt lately.
"I've been doing everything," he said.
Buchhorn explained that he and his staff are prioritizing what needs to be done in order to keep Sechelt spiffy for tourists and locals who will flood to the area for Canada Day festivities and the upcoming BC Bike Race and Sechelt Outdoor Festival.
"We've been prioritizing those areas that we think are important so the public does see the best of Sechelt when they drive up the highway or through the village, but if you're in Kinnikinnick Park and places like that, they obviously aren't going to get the attention they would get from our parks people," Buchhorn said.
While picket lines have been active at municipal hall and at the new sewage treatment plant site and the new public works yard, some picketers chose to move their line to Hackett Park during a provincial Challenger Baseball Jamboree for about 550 disabled children and their families on June 22.
Steele said they decided to go there after seeing Henderson was in attendance and that they left when he did.
Their brief presence at the jamboree (about 10 minutes) enraged some participants and their families who later vented about it on public Facebook pages.
Jamboree organizer Lennea Perpet said she understands the workers' right to strike but that she wished they would have kept their picket lines away from the ball tournament.
Steele later apologized saying "we meant no harm whatsoever."
"We have no interest in inconveniencing the public and we certainly didn't mean to offend anybody," Steele said.
She noted the union is considering escalating their strike action in the coming weeks.
