Kootenay Savings and the United Steelworkers (USW) Locals 9705 and 1‐405 have been in negotiations for close to a year, have met many times to negotiate a renewed collective agreement, and have engaged the assistance of a mediator.

Unfortunately the last mediation attempt resulted in an impasse as efforts failed to achieve an agreement. Talks continued last week, and the union rejected the company’s final offer put forward on Monday, October 24.

“Kootenay Savings’ Board of Directors and Senior Management Team stand firmly behind the efforts of its Negotiating Team,” stated Kootenay Saving CEO Brent Tremblay. “They have worked very hard to help address the Union’s demands and find mutually acceptable resolutions to our key issues within the parameters of the mandate they were given.”

Unlike other employers who may control decisions regarding their pension plans, Kootenay Savings belongs to a multi‐employer plan where all decisions regarding the plan are made by a Board of Trustees. Out of 25 credit unions participating in the BC Credit Union Defined Pension Plan, Kootenay Savings is the only one with collective agreement language that holds us to unlimited financial liability for any changes the Trustees may make to plan benefits. These changes are out of our control, yet we are bound by their decisions, the company said in a media release.

Although many employers have eliminated Defined Benefit Pension Plans due to heavy financial burden they place on employers, Kootenay Savings believes in the value and security that a Defined Benefit Pension Plan provides for our employees, and we have in no way indicated that we intend to withdraw from the BC Credit Union Pension Plan that we participate in today. However, we have a fiduciary responsibility to our members and our employees to ensure we limit our financial liability now to maintain the future success of our credit union, while still providing a significant level of protection for our employees, Kootenay Savings stated.

“In these negotiations, Kootenay Savings has proposed to fund a very lucrative supplemental retirement allowance on an annual basis to provide another layer of protection to employees, in the event of future changes if they were to occur. This fund is in addition to a rich retirement allowance that we provided to Defined Benefit Pension Plan participants in 2011. These additional benefits are unprecedented for credit unions, and no other credit union provides anything to the other 3,000+ plan members in the same pension plan, including those of the other Kootenay region credit union employees represented by the Steelworkers,” Kootenay Savings outlined.

“We remain committed to successfully concluding a new collective agreement, and are ready and willing to meet with the Union at any time. Unfortunately, over the last few days at some of our unionized locations, employees have begun activities that could be considered strike action. We are closely monitoring these activities in an effort to minimize disruption to our members.”

The company noted that its electronic services remain available for customers in the event of a strike or lockout.

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