There’s more bad news for people who rely on the Kootenay Lake ferry.
The ferry will be out of service for extended periods Monday, and all day Tuesday
On Monday an overtime ban by workers had operators shutting down the service from 2:45 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
The last sailing was at 1:10 p.m. from Balfour and last sailing from Kootenay Bay at 2 p.m..
DriveBC says there will be an essential services sailing at 4:30 p.m from Balfour and 5:20 p.m. from Kootenay Bay.
Tuesday closure
Now DriveBC has announced the ferry will be shut down all day Tuesday.
There will only be ‘essential service’ sailings on Tuesday, leaving from Balfour at 6:30 a.m., 8:10 a.m., 4:30 p.m. and from Kootenay Bay at 7:10 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 5:20 p.m..
“Priority given to health care workers, persons with medical appointment, school staff, students and parents transporting students,” for the essential services sailing, the website says.
Overtime ban
The ferry operator, Western Pacific Marine, says job action by its unionized employees is the cause of the service interruption. The union is implementing a no overtime rule during the work stoppage.
The same overtime ban resulted in the ferry service interruption at roughly the same times on Saturday and Sunday.
A spokesperson for the union said on Friday members are only working to the limit of the essential service order.
The 80 members of the BC Government and Service Employees Union Local 2009 are pushing for better wages and working conditions, as well as “to address serious issues of training, retention and recruitment of qualified marine professionals,” the union says.
Ferry users are asked to visit ferries.bcgeu.ca for updates.