Bargaining Update
3/28/2019 -
Your Unifor Local 649 Bargaining Committee met with SaskPower on March 26-27 and the Company canceled the meeting for March 28. The committee is frustrated that we’ve had a total of seven days booked for bargaining and we have only met face to face with the Company for a fraction of that time because of the employer.
We have scheduled April 9-10 to meet with the employer again.
We have provided the employer with all of our proposed language for all of our proposals but have only received a small amount of the language that they desire in their long list of proposals.
We remind you, as we did at the start of bargaining, your bargaining committee will be fighting the mandate of 0, 0, 1 and 2 per cent increase along with all the other Unifor Crowns in Saskatchewan (SaskEnergy, SaskTel, SaskWater, Water Security Agency, DirectWest, and SecurTek).
Solidarity is what is going to see us through this difficult process. United we stand, divided we fall.
In Solidarity,
Your SaskPower Bargaining Committee
Unifor Local 649
Conciliation requested after impasse in bargaining
3/22/2019 -
Thank you to our members for your strong showing of support and solidarity on March 19. We wore our Unifor t-shirts, toques, hats, lanyards, etc. in the workplace; held placards; took pictures and signed the Unifor flags. Solidarity goes hand-in-hand with strength at the bargaining table.
This week we met with the Company on March 19, 21 and 22.
As we stated in our last bargaining update, the concerns from you, can be summarized into 3 areas: Job Security, Mental Health and Fair Compensation.
It is with great disappointment and frustration that we update you with the unwillingness of SaskTel to engage in meaningful negotiations on these issues. As such we will be declaring an impasse in bargaining and requesting conciliation through the Canada Labour Code.
As a result of the impasse on non-monetary issues, we have not received monetary proposals from the Company despite our requests over our last few meeting dates.
We have told the Company we are prepared to meet again with the conciliator.
We want a deal, but it has to be fair and address your bargaining issues and concerns.
Please continue to watch for updates and other solidarity events in support of the bargaining process and your bargaining committee.
In solidarity
Your Bargaining Committee
Unifor opens SaskTel bargaining with strong message to government
1/29/2019 -
National President Jerry Dias joined hundreds of Unifor members working at SaskTel and other Crown employers in Regina at a rally on January 29.
“Premier Scott Moe and the Sask Party government are going to have a rude awakening if they think we’re going to settle for anything less than a fair contract in any of the Crowns this spring,” said Dias.
Dias was in town to open bargaining with SaskTel in an environment that hasn’t been hospitable to workers for some time. The conservative provincial government has mandated wage freezes and miniscule gains in the public sector for years.
Dias says that is about to change.
With SaskTel now formally in bargaining, the vast majority of the Saskatchewan Crown corporation workers represented by Unifor are negotiating a new contract, something that Unifor intends to use to members’ advantage.
“Unifor members enjoy a significant strength in numbers in the Crown sector,” said Joie Warnock, Unifor Western Regional Director. “We intend on bargaining from a position of strength and using spring strike deadlines if we have to.”
Unifor represents thousands of workers in the Crown corporation sector at employers such as SaskTel, SaskPower, SaskEnergy, SaskWater, the Water Security Agency, DirectWest, and SecurTek.
