The union representing employees locked out by FortisBC has had one of its fears realized. A manager performing the duties of locked out workers has been seriously injured on the job.
In late October the manager was operating a crane truck that he was unfamiliar with, and when the vehicle became unbalanced he sustained various injuries.
The manager has had numerous operations to repair a broken shoulder and compound fractures to his tibia and fibula. The FortisBC manager will be confined to a wheelchair for some time while he recovers.
“This incident did not need to happen. There would be no manager in a wheelchair today if FortisBC did not lock out its workers. The manager did not need to be put in this situation and ultimately FortisBC needs to take responsibility for the incident,” said Rod Russell, assistant business manager of the union, IBEW 213.
“Since locking out its employees FortisBC has been requiring inadequately trained managers and exempt staff to perform work regularly done by IBEW members which is not just putting these managers at risk but is also risking the safety of the public and the reliability of the electrical system.”
Russell said they believe there have been numerous safety incidents and that WorkSafeBC has written orders on more than one occasion due to safety violations during the lockout.
“Locked out employees are highly skilled and trained. We should be doing that work, not managers and exempt personnel.”
Russell said they hope there are no other incidents and that the safety of the workers and public is not jeopardized by this lockout.
