Unifor asks for third party to aid negotiations with province

There was no breakthrough on Friday, but negotiations will continue for the union representing around 5,000 Crown employees, Unifor said. 

Multiple Crown corporations and Unifor members were back at the bargaining table on Friday, and continue to go back and forth, Unifor said. 

But a tentative agreement has yet to be reached.

At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Unifor national president Jerry Dias said the union is frustrated and bargaining is at an impasse. 

He asked for a third party to help break the stalemate between the union and the government. 

"We are proposing, in order to get all of our members back to work, that you agree to final and binding arbitration on all the outstanding economic issues," Dias said. 

"If in fact, your government is not mandating the strike, you're not mandating the economics, then we will agree to have a third party arbitrator look at the economic feasibility of the crowns, look at the rate of inflation and make a decision outside of your government's interference."

Dias said Unifor has sent a letter to Premier Scott Moe's office and he expects a quick response in the hopes of ending the strike quickly.

In a brief statement published Friday evening, Blair Swystun, CEO of the Crown Investments Corporation, declined Unifor's offer.

"The Crowns will not be agreeing to binding arbitration. We believe agreements can be reached by continuing to bargain in good faith," Swystun's statement said.

Some progress made on economic issues

Unifor employees have been on strike for two weeks, after the Crowns and union failed to reach an agreement before the strike deadline on Friday, Oct. 4. 

Employees from SaskPower, SaskEnergy, SaskWater, SaskTel, the Water Security Agency, and more are on the picket line. 

The main sticking point is wages. The province has offered workers a zero per cent wage increase for the first two years, then one per cent in the third year, and two per cent increases in the following two years. Unifor says they want a two per cent increase each year to be in line with inflation. 

Dias said in recent negotiations, the Crowns have made "some minor economic offers" above what was previously offered, but the parties are still "quite a distance away" from reaching an agreement.

He said it's been suggested at the table that the employers tell the union exactly what they're capable of doing on the economic front and meetings will continue to find a solution.

"Ultimately we need the government to take the shackles off the Crowns," Dias said. "You need to allow the Crowns to bargain in good faith."

Dias said the companies want to reach a deal with the union and have started to deal with some of the contentious issues, like outsourcing of work to contractors, in a "very meaningful way."

"We think that we have, and I know that we have, found solutions to the contentious issues," Dias said. "The only thing that's really left, and the only reason why people are still on the street, 5,000 people are on the street, is because of a government mandate — that the corporations know as well as we do — makes no sense."