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SGEU seeks strike mandate as contract talks go nowhere

Jun 23, 2018 | 8:00 AM

With new contract negotiations between the Saskatchewan Government Employees Union and government representatives at a standstill, the union is ready to ask its membership for a strike mandate.

In a statement distributed Friday, the SGEU Public Service/Government Employee Negotiating Committee, which represents thousands of provincial employees such as social workers, firefighters, and highways workers, said a strike vote would be conducted across the province throughout July. The union detailed how bargaining for a new contract for government employees began in October of 2016. In February, the union brought forward proposals on wages, pensions, and other contract improvements but talks broke down in early June.

Barry Nowoselsky, chair of the union’s negotiating committee, attacked the government’s recent financial record.

“The public service workers have been scapegoated by a government that squanders hundreds of millions on high-priced out-of-province consultants and costly projects, like the Regina Bypass and Global Transportation Hub, an expensive and questionable carbon capture technology experiment, and the costly LEAN fiasco, just to name a few,” he said in the statement.

“A mandate from the members to strike does not mean there will be immediate job action,” he noted, “but it strengthens the union negotiating committee’s ability to bargain for a fair deal.”

In March of 2017 then-Premier Brad Wall announced a 3.5 per cent cut to public sector wages in light of the downturn in the economy and struggling provincial budget. That was expected to save Regina about $250 million, and Wall further announced all MLAs and cabinet ministers would also take a 3.5 per cent salary cut.

“This isn’t a quick decision to make and that’s why we’re going to lead first from the elected side, and then request that the public sector employers sit down with unions as their contracts come due and negotiate with this overall goal in mind, knowing it’s not going to be easy,” Wall said at the time.

 

–With files from The Canadian Press.

panews@jpbg.ca

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