A Kelowna woman has won her fight against a plumber91裸聊视频檚 and pipefitting union that denied her membership.

According to the B.C. Labour Relation Board (LRB), Alicia Ferri alleged the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry Local 170 (UA Local 170) denied her membership in March 2020.

UA Local 170 didn91裸聊视频檛 refute denying Ferri membership but said the decision didn91裸聊视频檛 violate the Labour Relation Code. Despite several inquiries on Ferri91裸聊视频檚 behalf as to why she was denied membership, the union ignored her and refused to give her a reason.

91裸聊视频淭he union chose to ignore Ferri in the hope that she would go quietly away,91裸聊视频� reads a March 2021 LRB decision.

Filing a complaint to the LRB in the fall of 2020, Ferri alleged the denial was discriminatory.

She was previously a member of the UA Local 170 from 2007 to 2015, when she was working as a plumber. She left the trade, and the union, in 2015, claiming she was 91裸聊视频渄iscriminated against and harrassed regularly91裸聊视频� due to her gender.

Ferri went on to find employment outside of plumbing but in September 2019, she heard about an LNG Canada pipefitting program that offered women tuition-free training and an opportunity for employment at an operation in Kitimat. Learning the apprenticeship required her to be a union member, she applied to go back to her old union under a different trade.

In March 2020, Ferri found out the union denied her membership, leaving her on the hook for the $1,200 course. She tried to get in touch with various people at the union through phone and email but received no response.

The union responded to Ferri only after she filed the complaint, citing its reason for not giving her membership as her 91裸聊视频渇rustration with the industry91裸聊视频� and 91裸聊视频渨eak work.91裸聊视频� The union also claimed Ferri 91裸聊视频渞uffled a lot of feathers.91裸聊视频�

The board found the union 91裸聊视频渄id not have a rational basis for its decision (to deny Ferri membership) and acted in an arbitrary, unreasonable, and therefore in a discriminatory manner.91裸聊视频�

The LRB ordered UA Local 170 to grant Ferri membership and sponsor the tuition for her pipefitting course.

You can read the decision in full .

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twila.amato@blackpress.ca
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