Rent reduced for Riders, early budget items approved by Regina Council
5h ago
Council retroactively slashed $1.33 million in rent owed by the Roughriders.
The Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU) is sending a strong message to the provincial government.
The SGEU announced Wednesday it filed an Unfair Labour Practice application with the Labour Relations board against the Sask. government.
The move is in response to the province’s proposals of wage rollbacks for public sector workers and forced unpaid days off. The SGEU argued this sort of approach undermines its right to bargain on behalf of members.
“This government is not only expecting public sector workers to pay the price for its own financial waste and mismanagement, it’s doing it in a way that breaches their right to bargain collectively in good faith with their employer,” SGEU president Bob Bymoen said in a news release Wednesday.
The SGEU claims the government is “laying out their financial mandate through a public relations campaign instead of at the bargaining table.”
A rally was held by public workers on March 8, protesting the proposed cuts.
On Monday, the government announced it would be privatizing cleaning services in government-owned buildings.
The Unfair Labour Practice application will argue the government has not “acted in good faith by attempting to bargain directly with the janitorial cleaning staff in the Ministry of Central Services” and that they are asking workers to reapply for their jobs.
“We are prepared to do whatever we can to defend our members against this unprecedented attack on public service workers and their collective bargaining rights,” Bymoen said.