Union files grievance over delay in testing for lead in Yukon school water

The Yukon Employees' Union (YEU) is pushing for the territorial government to move faster in testing all school water fixtures for lead.

The union has filed a grievance against the Yukon government, saying the territory has breached a collective agreement with its workers and failed to follow the Workers' Safety and Compensation Act by not having done the testing by now.

"We've got members that work in all the Yukon schools and every worker, every member, has a right to know what risks they are exposed to in the workplace," said YEU president Justin Lemphers. The union represents some administrative and janitorial workers in schools across the territory.

The territory's education department pledged in May to test all school water fixtures for lead and replace any fixtures that did not meet current drinking water standards within two to three months. That was after two students in Faro, Yukon, doing a science fair project discovered that their school's water contained an elevated level of lead. 

Last month, however, an education department spokesperson said that the initial timeline for testing "did not adequately account for the complexity and scope of the work ahead," and that the work was now anticipated to be done by the end of December.

In the meantime, the territory says that every school in the Yukon started the school year with at least one water fountain that fully complies with current Canadian guidelines for lead content, and larger schools have at least one compliant fountain per 100 students. Those fountains have all been marked with signs.

However, Del Van Gorder School in Faro is receiving bottled water because of lead levels, the government says. 

The YEU's grievance, filed to the territory's Public Service Commission on Sept. 20, asks that the territory finish testing all school water sources for lead within 45 days, make the results public, and immediately decommission any fixtures that exceed acceptable levels.

"We want them to fix the situation," said Lemphers. "This is a potential carcinogen in the workplace, and workers have a right to know."

He said the union and the territorial government are scheduled to have an "opening dialogue" about the grievance on Friday.

"We'll see where it goes from there," he said.

Ted Hupé, president of the Yukon Association of Education Professionals (YAEP), said his union is not part of the YEU grievance but said it would also like to see the testing happen and the issue addressed. He said YAEP will work through its health and safety committees to ensure that happens.

"I understand that this is going to take some time, and I don't want to undermine what the YEU is trying to do here. They're trying to bring public attention to this, and that's warranted," said Hupé.

"But we feel that we have an apparatus that we can use to take care of this problem."