By David Carrigg-Staff writer

Some unionized workers at the B.C. SPCA's Vancouver branch could be axed as the provincial office finds ways to streamline the operation.

Michael Steven, president of the B.C. SPCA, said the branch's financial performance slumped during the reign of former branch director Doug Hooper, who was sacked last week after an investigation into his 250 per cent pay hike over six years.

As a result, the Vancouver branch, which covers the Lower Mainland, may be downsized and the number of shelters cut in half to eight or nine.

"We will have to decide whether the Vancouver regional branch remains the same size. It's huge at the moment-there's 200 staff and 16 shelters. Despite what Doug Hooper used to tell the board about how great it was doing, it hasn't done that well," said Steven, adding unionized shelter workers have a 10-year collective agreement-much longer than the average of two to five years for contracts.

Steven said he's concerned that the agreement includes a provision that the Vancouver branch bid on every animal-control contract that comes up. Last January, the Vancouver branch lost contracts with Coquitlam and North Vancouver, after the cities expressed dissatisfaction with the level of service. Steven said the SPCA's main role is more of an advocacy one.

"It's not a universally held belief we should be involved in animal control. It gives us revenue and an opportunity to have control handled in a humane way. But it is not an ideal thing for us to be involved in and I'm not pleased that we are required to do that."

Jeff Lawson, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 1622, which represents 150 staff members, said the union is expecting layoffs because of the loss of the animal control contracts. But Lawson hadn't heard of plans to reduce the number of shelters within the Vancouver branch, which covers the Lower Mainland. He said the union will file a grievance if the branch stops pursuing animal control contracts.

Hooper and the branch's 14-member board of directors was suspended for six months in May, after Steven launched an investigation into how Hooper's pay and benefits package jumped from $72,000 to $203,000 per annum between 1996 and January 2001.

Hooper's pay hikes were approved solely by disgraced former branch president Michael Dear, who claims he had no idea he was supposed to refer the pay hike requests to the full board of directors.

The B.C. SPCA paid legal/accounting firm BDO Dunwoody to review the branch's operation and on Aug. 17 Hooper was fired. It's not known yet whether Hooper will take legal action against the society to get the $406,000 his contract dictated he must be paid if he is dismissed without just cause.

So far, two members of the branch's board of directors have resigned. The others are waiting until November, when the provincial office will decide whether to abolish the 32 branches' individual boards of directors and replace them with a single 16-person oversight committee.

The provincial office has refused to give the Vancouver branch's remaining board members a copy of the BDO Dunwoody report because it contains damning comments about the board and some staff members.

"It makes comment on people describing conduct less than ideal for the situation but falls short of anything that would amount to a breach of duty," said Steven, adding some directors didn't want to resign because they're unsure about the legal ramifications.

The society will decide in November how the Vancouver branch will be streamlined.