ICBC is going to court to ask for an injunction to stop unionized employees from sending out messages with an altered email signature that supports the union's job action.
The insurance corporation filed a claim in B.C. Supreme Court Monday saying more than 1,000 workers have refused to stop adding the altered signature to emails sent out in the course of their work for the company.
The union members changed the signatures last week from the regular phrase "Building trust. Driving confidence" to "The B.C. government is taking $1.2 billion out of ICBC's revenue. We work. You drive. We both deserve better."
ICBC and the Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union, which represents the unionized employees, are involved in a labour dispute over the workers' contract, which expired two years ago. The two sides have been in bargaining for 18 months.
About 1,500 of the insurance corporation's 4,600 unionized employees work on the North Shore. The Crown corporation's head office is on West Esplanade in North Vancouver.
In its claim, ICBC said it considers the email signature change an inappropriate use of company materials and an illegal use of its copyrighted logo.
By changing the signatures, the union has also "created the false and misleading impression to the public and others that ICBC is being critical of the government of British Columbia or at odds with the government, which as a Crown corporation, it is ultimately answerable to," the corporation said in its claim.
In one day alone, more than 10,000 emails went out with the changed signatures, according to ICBC.
The company has warned its employees it considers the changes "disciplinable conduct."
The hearing into the court injunction was scheduled for Friday.
Members of the union voted 87 per cent in favour of a strike in April, but a ruling by the Labour Relations Board has prevented them from staging a full walkout.
Jeff Gillies, vice-president of the union, has told the North Shore News previously his members are frustrated that ICBC is offering no wage increase over several years, despite the profitability of the Crown corporation. He said the company has given increases to brokers, autobody shops, lawyers and corporate executives while offering nothing to its workers.
Earlier this month, the Labour Relations Board ruled that ICBC was not bargaining in good faith because it refused to discuss any monetary issues until after the provincial government's core review process was complete.
The board ordered ICBC to bargain with the union on all issues.
