Job action from unionized workers won’t interrupt Vancouver’s second-largest cultural festival, but once the Fair at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) ends, a strike could disrupt Vancouver Giants hockey games, concerts and the final sporting events at the temporary Empire Field stadium.
“The employer has walked away from the table and at the moment there aren’t even more talks scheduled,” said CUPE Local 1004 business agent Steve Varty. “We are weighing our options, up to and including taking a strike vote after this year’s fair is finished.”
Varty represents nearly 4,000 ticket-takers, security guards, carpenters, labourers and other workers who watched their three-year contract end at the beginning of 2011.
“We did not walk away from the table,” retorted PNE CEO Mike McDaniel when told of Varty’s comments. “We’ve been bargaining for a while now and made quite a bit of progress.”
McDaniel told Business in Vancouver that hostile union insinuations that there could be a strike stem from being in what he called the “unfamiliar territory” of not having a contract in place by the start of the annual fair.
It’s impractical, however, to believe that any headway on a new contract could be made during the fair because both PNE executives and union staff are working long hours to ensure the success of the 17-day event.
Any glitch in the fair would be costly given that about $25 million of the PNE’s $45 million annual revenue comes from the fair. The PNE has been a tradition in Vancouver for 101 years, and this year will host free concerts from performers such as Kenny Rogers (August 29), Donny Osmond (August 30) and Hall and Oates (September 2).
But Varty told BIV the absence of an agreement prior to the start of this year’s PNE is a warning sign of gruelling negotiations ahead.
“We’re far apart on wages. The employer is offering 1.5%, 1.25% and 1% while we’re looking for a cost-of-living increase. They say they can’t afford that.
“Job security ties into contracting-out issues. About 50% of our full-time members are laid off every October or November for the entire winter. We want the PNE to be forced to use our members contractually more throughout the winter.”
Varty and McDaniel agree that the City of Vancouver has a 25-year master plan for the city-owned PNE site that includes improvements such as “greening,” a new building and potentially a 3,700-vehicle parkade – roughly the same number of parking stalls the PNE currently has on one level.
Varty wants the union’s members to be contractually entitled to do that construction and renovation work.
If the two sides fail to reach an agreement soon after the fair’s September 5 finale, the union could strike by mid-September and threaten the:
•September 23 Vancouver Giants home opener at Pacific Coliseum;
•September 24 Vancouver Whitecaps soccer game – the final event at the temporary Empire Field stadium; and
•September 25 Pearl Jam concert at the Pacific Coliseum.
When the final whistle sounds at Empire Field, the PNE will pass management responsibility for the site to the Vancouver Park Board.
Workers will take about three months to dismantle the provincially owned stadium, which the PNE manages on city-owned land.
The artificial turf will be expanded to make way for two slightly smaller football-style playing fields that are aligned east-west instead of north-south.
“There are still discussions about whether we could put in some [baseball diamonds]” McDaniel said.
Four lighting towers will remain, but McDaniel said their brightness will likely be reduced because the field will no longer need broadcast-quality lighting.
The 28-year-old BC Place Stadium is scheduled to reopen for the September 30 game between the BC Lions and the Edmonton Eskimos. •
