By Kellah Lavoie

Mediator turned down by SIAST union

Nov 18, 2010 | 5:08 PM

SIAST and their unionized workers are at odds again.
Today SGEU turned down SIAST’s government appointed mediator.
Jim Steele, SIAST academic bargaining chair, said they want to have a say in who will be mediating discussions between the two parties.
“What we’re not happy with is SIAST going to one wing of government, who ultimately is holding the purse strings, and asking them to appoint a mediator,” he said.
He says all they want is consultation on the potential mediator and they feel “kind of like freight train tried to run over (them) by moving to right out to the Attorney General’s office and asking him to appoint a mediator.”
Gary Earles, SIAST associate vice-president of human resources, said since noon, SIAST gave the union letter with a list of three mediators, two of which were out of the province. The government is no longer involved.
He says all three have a solid background for being unbiased.
Earles said, SIAST has not heard back from the union yet on the list of potential mediators, but is welcoming any suggestions from the union.
He said, SIAST also asked them to defer strike actions.
“We would just assume get back to bargaining and reach a collective agreement,” said Earles, adding he hopes talks will get back to the table soon for the sake of the students.
“We get e-mail frequently from the students, from the public. There is a lot of anxiety ‘what is happening, what could happen, what does that mean for me?’” he said.
Steele said, striking is not something the union is aiming for and they planned to give SIAST more time.
All the union wants if a fair mediator, and to get things worked out.
klavoie@panow.com