City and union resume wage talks

IQALUIT — Officials representing the City of Iqaluit and its unionized workers are expressing guarded optimism this week as they prepare to resume talks aimed at ending their three-month-old contract dispute.

“We believe we can start talking to one another, but it’s sure not a done deal, because we felt pretty stretched even meeting the requests of the mediator,” Iqaluit Mayor John Matthews said Tuesday.

After a round of talks held June 6-10, federal mediator Elizabeth MacPherson produced a report that would have increased the value of the city’s offer by $400,000 over the life of a new contract.

The city says this would have made their offer worth more than $2.2 million in additional wages and benefits over the life of the contract.

The city accepted MacPherson’s recommendations and then lifted its two-month-old lockout. But a majority of the local 6 members who voted said no and declared a strike as soon as the lockout ended.

About 50 of the city’s 80 or so unionized workers took part in the rejection vote.

City and union officials haven’t formally spoken to each other since. But now it appears the union has softened its wage demands to a level closer to the mediator’s recommendations.

Matthews would not comment on the substance of the union’s latest proposal, which is contained in a letter delivered to the city at the beginning of this week.

But he did agree that it’s “fair to say” the union is moderating its past positions.

“They submitted an offer to us, and council looked at the offer and decided to direct our negotiator to get in touch with their negotiator,” Matthews said.

Union officials have said a major shortcoming in the mediator’s report is that it fails to provide sufficient wage increases for “red-circled” employees.

“Red-circled” employees are those whose salary did not increase as a result of job reclassification.

A PSAC official said Wednesday that the union is waiting to hear from its negotiator before it comments on any resumption of contract talks.

As of Nunatsiaq News press-time this week, city officials were attempting to contact their negotiator, Glen Tait.

Tait was then expected to then contact union negotiator Michael MacDonald to get negotiations started again.

With files from Jim Bell and Denise Rideout in Iqaluit.