CEO’s of Saskatchewan’s striking Crown’s addressed the media Friday morning. Photo Ryan McNally.
CEO’s of the striking Crown Corporations sat down with the media Friday morning to answer questions about essential services during job action.
SaskTel President and CEO Doug Burnett said a business continuity plan has been put in place.
“We will of course continue to provide essential services 9-1-1, fire, police and hospital, all of those essential services we will absolutely be maintaining,” Burnett said. “In addition to that we will continue to respond to emergencies and repairs, those types of things,” Burnett also said.
However Burnett said the SaskTel store will be closed, but added their dealer network will be able to handle the extra load for the time being.
SaskPower has a similar plan in place when it comes to essential services.
President and CEO Mike Marsh told reporters that the greatest impact for them will be with the call centre.
“At SaskPower we have Unifor members who have left their positions in our call centre, we have re-deployed management staff to those now vacant positions to handle calls and we do expect some delays in perhaps getting responses,” Marsh said.
Marsh says any power outages will be restored by regular line technicians and will take no longer than normal.
When it comes to SaskEnergy there will be no line or meter installations to new homes or businesses and no regular construction work.
Service technicians are considered essential, so the 24/7 emergency line will still operate and emergency services will happen.
Like SaskPower, SaskEnergy is also asking customers to use the MyAccount feature online, and say the biggest impact to customers will be to those making inquiries to their customer service line.
You are asked to e-mail or leave a message which will be returned ASAP.
At the same time Crown CEO’s explained their plans to cover lost employees and their desire to begin bargaining again, those employees could be seen walking the picket line throughout Regina.
Hundreds of union workers with Saskatchewan’s crown corporations continue to picket in hopes of reaching a new agreement pic.twitter.com/JY0weN2Nhs
— Mackenzie Read (@read_mackenzie) October 4, 2019
SaskTel worker and Unifor member, Diane Shanner said she believes in what the union is doing for her, the people on the picket lines and future SaskTel employees, adding in her opinion it’s not the Crowns refusing to budge, but rather the province.
“We don’t need our buying power to continue to erode when we work well we work profitably, it’s just not right what the government is asking us, and it is the government in my opinion,” Shanner said.
On top of the pay issue Shanner said they would like to see improved job conditions and less contracting out.
While picketing members will be receiving $300 a week.
The head of the union representing the workers is baffled that it has come to this and says you can point the finger directly at Scott Moe
“Our proposal is wage increases consisting with inflation.” Unifor’s Jerry Dias said Friday morning alongside picketers outside the SaskTel office in Regina. ” We’ve asked for less than what Scott Moe gave itself so people should start calling his office and ask what the heck he’s doing when services start getting cut.”
At the Saskatchewan Legislature Friday morning, provincial NDP leader Ryan Meili discussed his concerns regarding how the negotiations have gone down, affecting thousands of workers.
He knows the workers and even the Crown leadership are wanting to strike a deal, but he said it all comes down to Premier Scott Moe who is “insistent on zeros”.
“In a time when this government is drawing hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Crowns in recent years, using them as their personal piggy bank to plug the holes in their budgets – it’s really embarrassing,” he stated.
Meili told reporters that their party has heard from a lot of sources who have been at the bargaining table that it’s the Sask Party who are who are aiming for zeros. He believes the government is trying to send a message to public sector workers that they are going to be following the same protocol for other contracts in the future.
“At the time of one of the biggest public sector strikes in Saskatchewan history, he’s planning a trip to Asia instead of going to those picket lines, talking to workers, hearing what they are dealing with, and working to get a fair deal.”
(With files from Ryan McNally, Mackenzie Read, Moises Canales and Mitchell Blair)
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