Job posting placed for ten part-time pool workers. 250News photo

Prince George, B.C. – The City of Prince George has put the call out for ten Lifeguard Instructor 1 positions in its Aquatics Division but says the job posting has nothing to do with the layoff of nine pool workers at the end of September.

The pool layoffs, along with the elimination of two financial services positions in other departments, came as a complete surprise to the eight councilors in office at the time and were not acknowledged by the previous mayor or administration, the sole response from Communications staff being that “the City does not comment on HR matters.”

The pool layoffs included six customer service/waterslide attendants, one aquatics coordinator, one full-time cleaner and one part-time cleaner. CUPE Local 1048 President Janet Bigelow said at the time that lifeguards would be required to take on cleaning duties as well as monitoring slides.

Last Friday, Dec. 12^th, a job posting went up on the City website for the position of Lifeguard Instructor 1, ten Irregular Part Time positions. It is an internal and external posting with a closing date for applications of Dec. 28, 2014. The posting says “the focus of this position is to provide lifeguarding functions, instruct swimming lessons, assist in the operation of an aquatic facility and respond to a variety of customer requests and concerns.” The hourly rate given for these positions is $23.63.

Asked why the City is hiring ten people when nine were let go in September, the Director of Recreation and Cultural Services, Rob Whitwham, says “those workers (laid off in September) are different than lifeguards. Normally we run about 56 lifeguards at the pool through the winter months and then in the summer months it goes up into the low 60s. These people are pretty much students, they’re part-timers, and so there’s a lot of turnover. So we’ve had ten of those 56 leave, which happens every year and so this is the hiring for ten to replace the ten that have left. We historically do this every January or February, so it’s an ongoing staffing thing. It’s got nothing to do with the re-organization that took place in September.”

Asked whether the part-time hires will have cleaning duties at the pool Whitwham says “sure, it’s the same duties that are associated with the re-organization that took place in September. So we’ve always had lifeguards that have done some cleaning at the pools and that’s continuing.”

We asked Whitwham whether custodial staff, who presumably would be paid a higher hourly wage than Lifeguard Instructors, were being replaced at the City as a cost-cutting measure. “The lifeguarding staff out at the pool always did custodial duties so there’s no change there.” He adds “I think we’re a little bit more efficient out at the pool with the way we’re doing things but the duties of these irregular part-timers, as I say, it’s the same as it’s always been.”