Lytton First Nation fights strike that isolated reserve

The chief of the Lytton First Nation will take the unusual step of interveningat a B.C. labour board hearing Wednesday, saying a highway workers' strike has cut off his community.

Chief Byron Spinks said that VSA Highway Maintenance strike, which began April 23, has crippled the small ferry that is the only link from the reserveon thewest side of theFraser River tothe town of Lytton and Highway 1.

The labour dispute cut the ferry's daily operating hours from 14 to six. On Wednesday, the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union is applying to the Labour Relations Board for an order that will cut the daily service to only one or two hours.

"What the union is proposing is to develop more hardship for our people," said Spinks.

"To reduce the six-hour operation time down to a two-hour operational time in July, and in August, to a one-hour-per-day operational time is totally unrealistic, and unsympathetic to the concerns of our residents on the Westside."

'What the union is proposing is to develop more hardship for our people.' Lytton First Nation Chief Byron Spinks

The ferry over the Fraser River carries only two cars on each trip, but it is the lifeline for 500 people who live in the various communities along the West Fraser known locally as the Westside.

Without the ferry the only other access routes to the Westside are a four-hour detour along a rough logging road or illegally walking across a railway bridge outside the reserve.

Spinks said a new mother on his reserve was recentlyforced to carry her infant girl across the 500-metre railway bridgebecause of the strike.

"Her baby's got a medical condition that needs testing on a twice a week basis, so she has to carry the baby across the bridge at those periods," said Spinks.

The chief will be appearing at the Labour Relations Board opposing the union's application Wednesday.

Hayfarmer Dan Mundall, who lives on theWestside,is furious the ferry service has been cut because of the strike. "Well, I have a crop of hay that I can't get to market," said Mundall.

While the ferry closure has been bad for business, Mundall said his biggest concern is for people's safety.

"Even little children had to walk illegally trespass a railroad bridge every day to go to school and preschool!"