Workers at Nunavut government, QEC hold strike votes

Leaders of Nunavut’s unionized civil servants at a Labour Day picnic in Iqaluit Sept. 5. The Nunavut Employees Union, a component of PSAC, is in a defiant mood these days and has started strike votes within its Nunavut government and Qulliq Energy Corp. bargaining units. (FILE PHOTO)

The union that represents most government workers in Nunavut will organize strike votes in workplaces across the territory starting Sept. 19.

“After a year of bargaining with the government, union proposals covering pay, the northern allowance, vacation leave and issues related to health care workers remain unresolved,” Doug Workman, president of the Nunavut Employees Union said in a news release.

Strike votes will start Sept. 19 in Kugluktuk and continue Sept. 20 in Cambridge Bay. The NEU is still scheduling votes in other communities.

These votes would give union officials the mandate to call strikes if mediation and further negotiations fail. The union must also work out essential service agreements with employers before they can legally strike.

Two expired collective agreements are at stake: the wage-benefit deal between the NEU and the Government of Nunavut, which covers most GN workers, and a separate wage-benefit deal between the NEU and the Qulliq Energy Corp.

NEU negotiators have already rejected a GN offer that would raise salaries each year by 1 per cent over the life of a proposed new three-year collective agreement.

Union officials say they want bigger wage increases and bigger northern allowance payments. They’re also upset about a new supplementary health insurance provider that the GN signed up at the beginning of this year.

“So far the employer has been unresponsive, with little movement on our issues,” Workman said. “Delays in the appointment of a mediator have also extended the bargaining process.”

A mediator, Vince Ready, was appointed this past August, but it’s not clear when he will meet with the two sides.

As for the QEC, union negotiators are demanding 5 per cent wage increases in each year of a new three-year contract.

But the GN is offering only 2 per cent a year over three years.

“All the employer is offering us is the opportunity to pick how we want to be hurt,” the NEU said in a bargaining update to union members this past March.

A mediator has also been appointed for the QEC dispute.

Strike votes in the QEC dispute start Sept. 21 in Cambridge Bay.

Meanwhile, there’s no word on the current status of a wage dispute between the City of Iqaluit and its unionized workers, who are also represented by the NEU.

NEU officials have rejected 1 per cent annual wage increases offered by city administrators.

The NEU is a component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, one of the country’s biggest public service unions.