Strikers allegedly demanding ID at the picket line

SaskTel picketers in Saskatoon are allegedly demanding ID from people sharing their office space.

Both Sentinel Financial Group and a SaskTel office are based out of a building near the intersection of 25th Street and Second Avenue.

Gord Martens, a financial adviser, said the picket line has been causing him and his business trouble.

He claimed that he was stopped from going into his workplace by strikers. They wouldn’t let him enter without showing his ID.

He said his clients are also being targeted.

“It’s very awkward for them to have to come through a picket line, first of all, and second, being asked for identification, which I thinks is unreasonable,” he said.

According to Martens, management at Sentinel was told by the union to do business elsewhere during the strike.

“They suggested that we meet clients in a more neutral position, outside of the building, which I think is unrealistic,” he said.

While he doesn’t have a problem with workers going on strike, he said their actions are unfair to him and his business.

“It’s not my circus, I don’t have a monkey in it, so I don’t deserve to be hassled because of it,” he said. “It’s intimidation, and it goes beyond striking.”

Workers from seven different Crown corporations went on strike on Friday. They’re set to return to work with no labour deal on Tuesday.