B.C. unions won’t get holiday pay for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral: arbitrator
Posted February 4, 2023 2:35 pm.
Last Updated February 4, 2023 2:36 pm.
A pair of B.C. labour unions that tried to claim holiday pay for the day of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral have had their grievance dismissed.
Local 170 of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters and Local 2736 of the Millwrights Union unsuccessfully argued that the federal declaration of a National Day of Mourning for the Queen, Sept. 19, constituted a statutory holiday.
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The unions pointed to the funerals of previous monarchs — which were public holidays. But arbitrator Randall Noonan wrote that wasn’t the case this time around.
“The government decidedly avoided declaring the day to be a public holiday and proclaimed instead that the day be set aside for the people of Canada to honour the memory of the Queen. The statements issued by the Prime Minister’s Office are clear that the day would be designated a holiday with limited application ‘for the public service of Canada.”
“Had the federal government intended the day to be a holiday applying to anyone other than those in the public service of Canada, one would have expected the proclamation to use similar wording to that used in 1952 or that the Prime Minister’s statement would have indicated that,” he added.
Although Noonan noted he agreed with many of the unions’ arguements, he ultimately sided against them, because both the federal and provincial governments stopped short of declaring the day a statutory holiday.
