Why Corner Brook locked out civic centre workers

As the lockout of CUPE Local 4386 workers at the Corner Brook Civic Centre rounded out its second day on Thursday, Oct. 22, the City of Corner Brook issued a statement on the issue.

“The City of Corner Brook believes it is important to provide civic centre employees, facility users, tenants and residents with a factual account of the events that led to the shutdown of the Corner Brook Civic Centre and the city’s subsequent decision to implement a lockout,” said the emailed statement.

In light of public statements made about the bargaining process and its actions, the city said it wanted to clarify the sequence of events and the considerations that guided its decisions, “Clarifying some mistruths that have been spread along the way,” it said.

The statement was broken down into a number of points. They include:

“Recent public statements made by Sherry Hillier, CUPE NL president, have been misleading and not factual. Sherry Hillier has referenced a wage rate of $16.99 per hour. The city wishes to clarify that this classification has not been utilized to provide compensation to employees working at the civic centre in the 2026 calendar year,” the statement read.

“When casual employees are called in to work at the civic centre, they are paid either the cleaner rate or the facility technician rate, depending on the duties they perform during their shift. During bargaining, both parties agreed that the unused $16.99 per hour classification should be eliminated from the collective agreement.”

“On Oct. 10, 2026, members of CUPE Local 4386 conducted a strike vote that resulted in the bargaining unit being in a legal strike position. This meant that at any point after the vote occurred, the employees could leave their job and commence strike activity without notice or obligation to ensure the safety of the building.

“The city was not advised that the strike vote had occurred or that the bargaining unit was in a legal strike position. The city first became aware of this development four days later, on Oct. 14, 2026, through public comments made during a media interview by Sherry Hillier.

“As a result, from Oct. 10 until Oct. 14, the city was unaware that employees were in a legal position to commence strike action.

“Once the city became aware that the employees were in a legal position to walk off of the job site, it was required to immediately assess the operational and safety risks associated with the civic centre’s mechanical systems and infrastructure.”

“The operation of the Corner Brook Civic Centre relies on an ammonia-based mechanical refrigeration system. The ice plant cannot simply be turned off.

“The safe shutdown of the plant requires a structured, multi-step process and the involvement of qualified power engineers. Failure to properly carry out that process could place employees, facility users, tenants, contractors and infrastructure at risk.

“Upon learning that labour action could occur without notice, the city had a responsibility to ensure the facility could be brought to a safe state should a strike occur.

“The decision to begin shutting down the ice plant was not made lightly. It was made because the city had an obligation to prioritize safety and protect critical infrastructure.

“As a result, user groups, facility tenants and the public were notified as soon as reasonably possible of the anticipated impacts.

“Employees were directed on the morning of Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, to begin the shutdown process for the ice plant. This resulted in the removal of the ice surface by Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026.

“At that time, off-ice activities were expected to continue.

“The city returned to the bargaining table with CUPE Local 4386 on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, hopeful that a negotiated settlement could be achieved.

“Two hours before bargaining resumed, the city was advised that additional representatives would be joining the union negotiating team. The local bargaining team for CUPE 4386 would be joined by the regional director of CUPE and the CUPE NL president.

“The last-minute addition to the bargaining team was not seen by the city as an attempt to resume positive negotiations, but rather as an attempt to ‘strong-arm’ the city at the bargaining table. This ultimately led us to bring in legal counsel, which had not been involved in the bargaining process to date.

“The addition of these two CUPE representatives disrupted the bargaining process, challenged productive discussions, and resulted in a complete breakdown of productive communication, resulting in the eventual exiting of the regional director and the CUPE NL president so that talks could resume between the two original bargaining committees. Discussions continued throughout the day under the guidance of the conciliator and remained respectful. Despite getting off to an unproductive start, the city believed progress had been made and remained hopeful that a fair agreement could be reached.

“Conciliation concluded on the evening of Oct.19 with agreement to resume discussions the following morning.”

“On Oct. 20, 2026, the city presented an offer that included:

• General wage increases;
• Increases to base wage rates;
• The rolling-in of various premiums into base wages;
• An overall wage package representing approximately a 10 per cent increase over the term of the agreement; and
• A signing bonus.

“The current package on the table equates to approximately a 12 per cent overall increase. Despite the city’s efforts to advance negotiations, the parties remained apart on key issues and CUPE Local 4386 chose to leave the bargaining table.”

“During bargaining, the city asked the union on three separate occasions whether it would provide 24 hours’ advance notice of any strike action.

“The city sought this commitment for one reason only: to ensure sufficient time to safely shut down critical civic centre infrastructure in the event of a work stoppage.

“The city did not receive the assurance it was seeking as CUPE Local 4386 refused to agree to this notice period.

“Without advance notice and given the nature of the facility’s systems, the city was left with a difficult but necessary decision.”

Shutdown of remaining plant operations, the city went on to say, requires significant efforts.

“The heating and ventilation systems within the civic centre are interconnected with plant operations that require power engineer oversight,” the statement explained.

“Following the breakdown of negotiations and the union’s departure from the bargaining table, the city determined it was necessary to proceed with the shutdown of the remaining plant systems.

“This decision was made solely to protect public safety, employee safety, tenant property, building infrastructure and the long-term integrity of the facility.”

“The city recognizes that there has been a significant amount of public discussion surrounding these negotiations.

“The city’s concern is that some public commentary does not reflect the city’s understanding of the events that occurred or the operational realities involved in safely operating and shutting down a complex ammonia-based refrigeration facility.

“The city believes civic centre employees deserve accurate, complete and factual information regarding both the bargaining process and the operational decisions that have been made. The city is concerned that civic centre employees are not being properly informed of the facts or are being misled with false information coming from the CUPE NL president. For that reason, the city is providing this timeline so employees, residents, user groups and tenants can understand the facts and circumstances that informed the city’s actions.”

The city said it “wishes to clarify the following mistruths that have been spoken publicly.” They include:

1. The rate of $16.99 per hour for casual workers has not been used for a considerable time and the city can confirm that this rate has not been paid during the 2026 calendar year for an employee to perform work in the civic centre.
2. The cost of removing the ice surface as quoted by CUPE NL President Sherry Hillier, is not $48,000. The actual cost is estimated to be approximately $946 above or in addition to any regular operating costs.
3. The civic centre does not generate a profit and relies on a city subsidy of approximately $1.5 million, funded by taxpayers.
4. Because some discourse has been circulating regarding council remuneration: The last council remuneration increase occurred in 2018 when council enacted an adjustment following changes to the federal tax regulations to offset the net impact on take-home pay. Council did not receive a 23 per cent pay increase as publicized in 2024. The council minutes of Sept. 9, 2024, will show that the decision to increase council’s remuneration was ultimately defeated. Although it had appeared to be passed in the meeting, it was later determined that the 2/3’s vote requirement was not met.”

The city said it will not be doing any further interviews with the media.

“We remain committed to reaching a negotiated agreement that is fair reasonable and respectful of employees while also being responsible to taxpayers,” the city said.

“The city remains prepared to return to meaningful discussions and hopes a resolution can be reached as quickly as possible.”

As the uncertainty of how long the lockout will last, user groups at the facility have been working to find other ways to continue their operations.

On Thursday, the Deer Lake Reg Wings announced that it would be moving its home opener game back to the Hodder Memorial Complex on Nov. 6.

The Red Wings had to move its home opener in the Central West Senior Hockey League against the Corner Brook Royals to the city because the Hodder was booked to hold the CDC Continental Cup dart tournament.

In a Facebook post, the Red Wings thanked the town, and the mayor and council, and the organizers of the dart tournament for accommodating its request to play at the Hodder.

Refunds for the game in Corner Brook will be issued and ticket sales for the game at the Hodder will be announced later.