Unifor members of Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations gathered at Hotel Saskatchewan to try and get deals done for the nearly 5,000 members in a strike position.
Bargaining will take place Thursday and Friday to try to get a deal done. If it doesn’t, Unifor has said they will come together to make a determination of when each local will give 48 hour notice.
Unifor National President Jerry Dias said it’s not necessarily just about the money.
“When I take a look and I listen to the concerns of our members at SaskTel, SaskEnergy, SaskPower, there’s this incredible concern about job security,” Dias said. “We take a look at the jobs that disappear every year and are replaced by part-time jobs.”
Six Crown corporations and one Crown agency could see workers hit the picket lines, including SaskTel, which has a job action beginning on Monday at midnight if a deal can’t get done.
Dias said strike notice for other unions could be on the way depending on talks over the next two days.
“If we’re having meaningful conversation, and the government has taken the shackles off of the corporations, then it shouldn’t take forever to get a deal here,” Dias said. “But if in fact, they come to the bargaining table (Thursday and Friday) and say a lot of the same, which means no wage increases, then we will meet as a group and determine when we will give the 48 hours notice.”
When referencing a 2.3% increase MLA’s received for their salaries, Dias said he’s not opposed to that.
“I will argue that our legislators deserve a 2.3% wage increase, I don’t have a problem with it, but what I can’t understand is the sheer hypocrisy,” Dias said. “If it’s good enough for them, then certainly the workers that generate the profits and a significant amount of profits that’s worked back into our communities deserve better than zeroes.”
Premier Scott Moe recently sent a letter to Dias and Unifor, stating the provincial government respects the bargaining process, and neither he nor his fellow cabinet ministers have gotten involved in the bargaining process.
