Lake City Control Room Overtime Arbitration

LCOC Control Room Lunch Period Overtime Arbitration (Sec. 104 Expedited Arbitration)

Arbitrator Barbara Bluhman was appointed to chair the hearing. Under Section 104, only one arbitrator sits on the panel, there are no nominees. Presidentu00a0u00a0Bill Eastwood represented the Union and the GVRD appointed their legal counsel to speak for them. The GVRD maintained that the employees at LCOCu00a0Control centre were paid for 12 hours and therefore they were not entitled to overtime when working through their lunch. The Union took the position that the Collectiveu00a0Agreement was the governing document and it contained specific details regarding the 12-hour shift that the LCOC Control centre employees were on.

Ms. Bluhman ruled in favour of the Union in concept, and agreed that employees on a 12 hours shift were required to work only 11.5 hours and were entitled to one half-hour off for lunch, however, because we were in the middle of bargaining and the issue had existed for many years, she also ruled that the parties amend their agendas to include this issue at the table. Ultimately there became a provision in the Agreement surrounding this issue, entitling Control Room Operators overtime or relief.

The case was heard on September 6, 1994 and an Award was rendered on September 17, 1994.