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Volunteers shut out of city parks amid dispute over unpaid help

Volunteers have been temporarily shut out of all City of Victoria parks. The city parks department sent an email to volunteers Nov.
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Ludo Bertsch, who has worked on the Ryan Street greenway project in Oaklands for the past 10 years, had to turn away about 50 volunteers recently who wanted to help with the fall planting.

Volunteers have been temporarily shut out of all City of Victoria parks.

The city parks department sent an email to volunteers Nov. 21 saying all volunteer activities, including regular work parties, have been put on hold due to differences between CUPE Local 50 and the parks department over the role of unpaid helpers.

The email also told volunteers that a work party to plant bulbs on the Ryan Street greenway in Oaklands the following morning had to be cancelled.

However, John Burrows, president of CUPE Local 50, said the city made the decision to cancel the work party.

“This is not our decision. This is nothing to do with us,” Burrows said.

“We have no issue. Let me be clear. I don’t know where this all started.”

In a follow-up email to volunteers, Julie MacDougall, acting director of parks and recreation, said the issue of volunteering in city parks was raised by unionized staff in collective bargaining this summer.

“As a result, the city and CUPE Local 50 are in discussions to clarify how and when volunteers are being used in city parks — to ensure role clarity and shared expectation.”

Burrows confirmed the volunteer issue was discussed. “It is now in the labour-management forum,” he said, declining to comment further.

Ludo Bertsch, who has worked on the greenway project for the past 10 years, said the cancellation was a blow.

“We’re not trying to take any jobs away. We’re doing work that normally would not be done and trying to really build the community. I don’t know the ins and outs of the labour dispute, but the ramification was right in our face because we had this all planned and ready to go.”

Bertsch said timing is critical, since the ground has been prepared and mulched, and rain has been falling. “Fall is the time to plant bulbs. If this is going to be delayed much longer, it’s going to set us back a year.”

MacDougall said she was optimistic the situation would be resolved before the new year.

Mayor-elect Lisa Helps said she became aware of the dispute about a week ago, and wants to see a process in place to ensure similar issues don’t arise in future.

Citizen initiatives are important, said Helps, who is not sure how long it will take to settle the impasse.

“I hope we don’t have a worst-case scenario and I hope we can honour the efforts of our citizens and volunteers at the same time as respecting the collective bargaining that took place,” said Helps. “The fact that people are sitting at the table, wanting to work it out, I think is awesome.”

Bertsch said the Ryan Street volunteers have transformed an unused road into a Garry oak greenway with native plants and a path. The project was huge and involved people in the community and the City of Victoria.

“They brought in dump trucks and dug away,” Bertsch said. “And we were involved in the design and put a lot of sweat and labour into it. What we have today is quite incredible.”

But last Saturday, Bertsch had to turn away about 50 volunteers who arrived to help with the planting.

“It’s a real challenge to get people to volunteer,” said Bertsch. “Everyone has busy lives.”

Greenways are important because they bring a little nature, peace and quiet to many neighbourhoods, he said.

“But it’s the community-building that’s really important. People working side by side, building a stronger local community, is a very important part of why we live in Victoria.”

ldickson@timescolonist.com