REGINA – The bargaining committee for Unifor sure doesn’t like the latest offer made to its members by SaskTel.
"SaskTel's offer is an insult to all our members who work at this very profitable Crown corporation," said Unifor national president Jerry Dias in a press release. "There has been little movement and nothing that would bring us closer to a settlement."
The Unifor bargaining committee met with SaskTel and the federal mediator August 12 to 14. The monetary package provides no wage increase until 2021, when a 1% increase takes effect.
"This is not a fair monetary package, this is a slap in the face," said western regional director Joie Warnock, "especially when the government gave itself a 2.3% increase this spring."
SaskTel workers are already in a legal strike position and Unifor says it will be escalating its campaign “to stand up for crown workers in Saskatchewan and is evaluating next steps.”
Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy.
A SaskTel spokesperson told Cartt.ca the company "remains committed to working through the process with Unifor to finalize a new Collective Agreement; however, SaskTel will not release details of discussions that occur during bargaining negotiations.
"Unifor has not yet provided SaskTel with a notice of strike action. So at this time, it is business as usual."
