NAPS officers give union nearly unanimous strike mandate

THUNDER BAY -- Just shy of 95 per cent of Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service officers have given their union a mandate to strike.

A hundred per cent of the 134 NAPS officers participated in the vote on Monday and Tuesday, sternly declining a collective bargaining offer from their managing board.   

“It just shows how frustrated the membership is and we’re all standing up with one voice and saying we’re not going to take it anymore,” said Public Service Alliance of Canada Local 401 president Jason Storkson, whose union represents NAPS officers.

Storkson said the NAPS board offered his members zero per cent increases “across the board,” adding officers haven’t seen a pay increase since 1996, with the exception of a one per cent salary bump in 2010.

Ultimately, he holds the federal government responsible for the long-stagnant wages.

“The government knows exactly what’s going on and what the funding levels are and they’re not stepping up to the table,” Storkson said over the phone from his post in Wunnumin Lake First Nation.

“These guys have been patient saying, ‘please help us.’ Politicians fly up and say, ‘these guys need something.' We have inquests. There are so many recommendations it’s crazy but because we keep going every day, the government says, ‘we don’t have to pay these guys anything.’”

Storkson said his co-workers are policing alongside Ontario Provincial Police officers earning nearly 20 per cent more money for doing the same job.

“For me, the history is pure racism. If this was an all-woman police service, if this was an all-black police service, people would go crazy,” he said.

“For me, it’s the frustration of the policy of racism the federal government has put on these programs but it’s also officer safety. No other police service in Canada goes to calls by themselves in situations involving firearms, alcohol or domestic. That’s our bread and butter.”

As NAPS is a program that falls outside of the Police Services Act, it’s not designated an essential service and its members can legally strike.

The parties will meet with a conciliation officer shortly and a work stoppage could occur within weeks. 

Representatives of the NAPS board were not available for comment Tuesday but and are expected to speak to media Wednesday morning.