REGINA — Unifor said Monday its bargaining committees have signed tentative agreements with Crown corporations SaskEnergy, SaskPower, SaskTel, SaskWater, DirectWest, and SecureTek, ending a 17-day strike by nearly 5,000 workers across the province.
The details of the tentative agreements will be released following the ratification votes, which will be held this month, but all workers are expected back on the job Tuesday, October, 22.
Besides pickets at SaskTel offices, Unifor members had been picketing SaskTel dealers across the province, too, asking customers to support locked out workers and take their business elsewhere.
Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy.
The current collective agreement expired March 16, 2019 and the new one will be for a five-year term ending March 16, 2024.
“SaskTel would like to thank its customers for their patience during this labour disruption. We also ask customers for their understanding as it may take the corporation a few days to have the necessary processes, systems and accesses reinstated to resume normal business operations. We welcome the return of our full labour force, so we can once again focus on delivering an exceptional customer experience,” said the company in its announcement.
