Wages the big issue
A labour dispute between the BC government, and its Legal Aid lawyers, could bring the justice system to a halt next week.
600 members of the lawyers' association recently voted 97% in favour job action starting April 1st.
Penticton lawyer Paul Varga says wages is the number one issue.
"The criminal system works on a tariff basis – it's flat-rate funding – so, I will get a hundred dollars for representing my client in provincial court, no matter how many times I have to go back to the remand court system, I end up just getting that one hundred dollars, that's it – even if I go back six or seven times on appearances," he says.
On Monday, Varga says duty counsel and family counsel services will not be available.
