A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered the Teamsters Union local 31 to pay $25,000 to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank as punishment for ignoring a court order during a labour dispute in North Vancouver last year.
Justice Kenneth Affleck found union members willfully disobeyed a restraining order that barred picketers from delaying or obstructing people who were attempting to enter to the Great Canadian Railtour Company's train station on Philip Avenue.
The order came about after collective bargaining broke down early last summer and the union issued strike notice.
In response, the company locked out employees and used management and non-union workers to continue operating the business.
The company eventually asked for an order to stop picketers from preventing people from getting to the tourist train, which the court granted.
But the judge found members of the union essentially ignored that order by having picketers stand in front of buses and taxis and refuse to move out of the way. Those actions were not only encouraged by union officials; "they were active participants," wrote Affleck.
Affleck noted that the union member's actions were never threatening and happened in the midst of an acrimonious labour dispute. That doesn't excuse the behaviour but "helps to explain why feelings were running high," he wrote.
He ordered the union to pay a fine of $25,000, adding if the union paid the money to the food bank within 30 days, the court fine would be cancelled.
