The city and Saskatoon transit workers set to resume contract talks

It’s been four years since Saskatoon Transit workers have had a contract, and now talks are set to resume with the city.

The Amalgamated Transit Union met with the city’s director of human resources Friday, setting the ground work for negotiations Monday.

Director of Human Resources, Marno McInnes, said it’s been a few months since there were formal talks with the union.

“We’ll start to sort of put everything on the table to see where we’re at, where our last positions were…to see if we can bridge them” he said Saturday “then we’ll start to move forward and have discussions on specific topics to try to actually bring it together.”

Wages and pensions have been the major sticking points of negotiations.

The city released numbers Saturday showing that the wages it’s offering are close to other cities like Regina and Winnipeg.

But Jim Yakubowski, the president of ATU Local 615, says it’s not always how it appears.

During a rally in Saskatoon Saturday Yakubowski said “if you look at the following year there is a variance there, they are getting an increase.” he said.
An estimated 150 people attended the rally to show support for workers ahead of contract talks.

Earlier this year workers refused to wear their uniforms to raise awareness about stalled contracted talks.