Waiting for the next move: City, workers still at impasse

The City of Prince Albert and its inside workers do not appear any closer to a deal than they were several weeks ago, with workers opting to sit in on council’s meeting on Monday as a way to be heard.

The union had representatives from two other branches speak as delegations to council about what the future holds. Ann Iwanchuk, regional director for CUPE Saskatchewan, said it is up to council to lead the way.

“I am not going to get into what led us here but what I am going to implore you to do is to turn the page, treat your staff with respect, work on building trust and relationships,” she said.

She added that this is done by talking and listening to the union and finding out how the path from negotiations to the first strike in city hall history happened.

“Why? Because that’s what leaders do. You were elected to be leaders and you will have a better city for it,” Iwanchuk said.

The ongoing dispute between management and staff took several fronts during the council meeting, with Coun. Tony Head convincing most of council to support his request to have management report back with a cost and savings breakdown of the strike so far.

While there have been some costs, council acknowledged that not paying wages for over a month has resulted in savings for the city’s pocketbook.

Mayor Greg Dionne said he supported the idea of making the cost savings report public once the strike is over.

“I think the general public is entitled to know what the savings were, and the costs, but not at this point. We are heavily staff-short, as you know so I don’t have the staff available to do this work,” he said.

However, most of the councillors supported the idea of providing a full cost analysis and opted to have management give a current report and a final one once the strike has ended.

At the same meeting, Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp asked council to give her leave (which needed to be unanimous since it was added to the agenda) to have management schedule a bargaining meeting date to address all outstanding issues with CUPE 882.

“This is a pressing, urgent issue. We can’t wait one month to hear this and to hear council out on this particular issue,” said Lennox-Zepp.

For the last several weeks, the city has been saying it’s waiting for staff to vote on its last offer, at which point they will know the next step.

Striking workers were prepared to ratify the new collective agreement several weeks ago but changed their minds at the 11^th hour after being told that a call centre created to deal with phone calls during the strike would remain in place.

The union said that staff need to be consulted on such changes before they are made and now say they are waiting for management to make the next move.

Workers went on strike on Sept. 11.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Waiting for the next move: City, workers still at impasse

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