Employees at six other Crowns threaten job action

Workers from five Saskatchewan Crown corporations and one Crown agency have joined SaskTel workers in filing notice of job action.

In a media release Thursday evening, Unifor — which represents employees at SaskTel, SaskEnergy, SaskPower, SecurTek, DirectWest, SaskWater, and the Water Security Agency — said that all seven Crowns could see “some form of job action or work stoppage beginning Monday at 12:01 a.m.”

“(Premier) Scott Moe wrote to me saying he doesn’t get involved in collective bargaining. But when he mandated zero wage increases for Crown workers he inserted himself into these negotiations,” Jerry Dias, Unifor’s national president, said in the release.

“It’s time to stop the games. The Premier and MLAs gave themselves a 2.3 per cent increase and Crown workers deserve a raise too.”

The union said negotiations will continue through Sunday, but some form of job action could follow just after midnight Monday if deals aren’t reached.

“We’re receiving co-ordinated offers at seven bargaining tables, and the Finance Minister (Donna Harpauer) seems to be issuing statements daily. I think it’s safe to say the government is becoming more actively involved as the deadline approaches,” Dias said in the release.

SaskTel’s initial offer reportedly was a three-year deal with no salary increase in either of the first two years and a one-per-cent hike in the third year.

Unifor and SaskTel were to begin bargaining Thursday. Before the sides sat down, Dias held a media conference at the Hotel Saskatchewan and laid out the union’s position.

In an email Thursday afternoon, the province said that it had made new offers to employees of the Crown corporations. The government didn’t provide details of those offers.