Union fight in the Interior

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Administrative staff of the Westbank First Nation have applied for certification to join the British Columbia Government and Service Employees Union.

Chief Ron Derrickson, saying he will contest the initiative to the bitter end, has declared the application to be a potential disaster for his community.

To make things more interesting, recently defeated Westbank chief Brian Eli has jumped on the bandwagon and supported the move, saying band employees require more job security, especially after elections when band employees are expected to support the new administration or face dismissal, Eli said.

Derrickson said the only person who is no longer collecting a paycheque as a result of his electoral win is the former chief. No other jobs have been lost, he said, despite the fact that many of the band programs are in a deficit.

The new chief has said publicly that there's no excuse for the bad financial situation the administration is in and that the employees have to take a hard look at their past performance. Those kinds of comments appear to have sparked the move to unionize.

Derrickson believes that's an over-reaction. He said it is not uncommon to review employee performance after a new government administration is elected.

"The idea of job security without job performance will not happen under my administration," Derrickson told Windspeaker.

Derrickson has several objections to the unionization of his staff. He believes the strict rules regarding hiring practices will force him to hire more non-Native workers. Without a union, he said, he has more flexibility to hire his own people and let them learn on the job.

"People have to have experience and education," he said. "The people who get dumped are the band members. This is one of the bastions for a training ground for Native people."

No member of the group which is spearheading the move to unionize was available for comment. However, many other communities have seen problems with the hiring and labor practices of band councils.

In many First Nations communities where there are no unions, it is not uncommon for people to be hired and fired according to family ties or because of personality conflicts with supervisers.

Derrickson claims that 90 per cent of the membership wants nothing to do with the union. He said he has not yet had one single band member come to him supporting the application.

Instead, he claims, they have come to him voicing their despair over the issue.

Currently in British Columbia there is only one other band administration that has been certified - the Kamloops Indian Band.

First Nations chiefs and councils say unions with provincial or federal mandates will not put the needs of the First Nation community first. They say it's a jurisdictional problem.

A union organizer says the union, which hopes to represent the Westbank employees, is willing and able to deal with such issues.

"The BCGEU is the leading union in the province with the view to support First Nations in terms of treaties and self government," said Marcel Dionne, staff organizer for the BCGEU.

Derrickson doesn't believe it. He thinks it's the government's way of sneaking in the back door and imposing provincial jurisdiction on reserve.

Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs is also worried about that aspect of the unionization of band employees. He said it's a blatant political move by organized labor and the NDP government.

"Union certification may increase wages but wage increase does not mean budget increases," the Penticton Indian Band chief said. "Therefore, increased wages will trigger layoffs."