Without a deal, Saskatchewan's Crown workers hit the picket lines - News Talk 980 CJME

Employees represented by Unifor at seven of Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations, including SaskTel, SaskPower and SaskEnergy, are officially on strike.

According to the union, negotiations between the Crowns and workers had reached an impasse.

Without a deal, workers walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, starting with those at SaskTel, who were gathered outside of the telecom’s downtown Regina office on Lorne Street, wearing signs, waving flags and marching around.

On Friday morning at about 7 a.m., at least 100 workers started picketing along Saskatchewan Drive in front of the SaskTel headquarters.

Members are prepared to strike for as long as it takes to get the Sask. Party government back to the table, said Dave Kuntz, president of Unifor Local 1S, which represents workers at SaskTel, SecurTek and DirectWest.

“We’re going to put extreme pressure on them and we’re going to point the finger directly at where the problem is,” Kuntz said.

“We’d like to think everything we’re doing is going to work and that they’re going to come to their senses and bring fairness back to the table.”

Among its demands, the union is seeking a raise of two per cent a year — something MLAs got in a 2.3-per-cent cost-of-living increase.

However, Unifor says the offer it got instead was a two-year wage freeze followed by a one-per-cent raise in 2021 and a two-per-cent increase the year after.

Kuntz said the union’s grievance is not with the Crowns, which he said are willing to settle and have “tried multiple times.”

“They understand the impacts to the business, they understand the impact to the customers and they understand the impacts to their employees,” he said.

“The government is not letting them settle so they’re holding back the money.”

Job action has taken place since Sept. 30, when workers started a work to rule campaign, refusing overtime and disregarding company performance targets.

Since then, the two sides haven’t even met, Kuntz said.

“We’ve told them, ‘We’re ready to go, we’re available 24-7 to talk.’ They haven’t even approached us,” he said. “Quite honestly, we’re baffled. Why not?”

The union representing the Crown workers posted videos on its Twitter feed showing the start of the strike.

SaskTel posted a statement on its Facebook page on Friday morning, saying: “We’re currently experiencing a labour disruption. During this time, we’re making every effort to minimize the impact to our customers by having our management team maintain services.”

The company’s statement said “delays may be experienced.”

It is 12:01 in Regina and the first workers are walking off the job as part of our province wide strike for wage fairness. #canlab #skpoli pic.twitter.com/xdm59peeek

— Unifor Canada (@UniforTheUnion) October 4, 2019

The Crown strike has officially begun in #yxe. A few dozen pickets are out with signs and coffee at Sasktel building on 1st Ave. ⁦@CKOMNews⁩ pic.twitter.com/e20tSRnx2c

— Brent Bosker (@brentbosker) October 4, 2019

Every day that thousands of Sask Crown members are on a picket line, the Province of Saskatchewan loses money and residents will not get the reliable services they're used to. @PremierMoeScott it is time for a fair deal. #saskpoli pic.twitter.com/uGLTaYwCuP

— Unifor Canada (@UniforTheUnion) October 4, 2019

Meili offers his take on Unifor strike

Speaking to reporters on Friday, NDP Leader Ryan Meili blamed Premier Scott Moe and the Sask. Party government for the labour disruption.

Meili said from what he has heard from union leaders around the bargaining table, the government has refused to budge on its offer to workers, which includes no pay increases for the first two years.

“The Crown leadership has been willing to come up with a deal but it’s really Scott Moe who said, ‘No, we don’t want to deal.’ He’s the one who has insisted on zeroes and forced this strike to happen,” Meili said.

“(This is happening) in a time when this government has been drawing hundreds of millions of dollars out of the Crowns in recent years, using them as their personal piggy bank to plug the holes in their budgets.”

A statement from Minister of Finance Donna Harpauer on Friday afternoon thanked the crown employers and workers still on the job to provide essential services.

It reiterated the government’s stance that a strike is “not in the best interests of crown corporations, employees, or the people of Saskatchewan.”

“We believe that the employer offer of five per cent over five years respects the hard work of crown employees while balancing the fiscal reality of our province, and we remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached at the bargaining table in good faith,” Harpauer said.

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October 04, 2019 at 08:03PM