City workers set to strike in Prince Albert

A union leader says members feel disrespected after the City of Prince Albert offered a final deal and refused to engage in further negotiations.

City workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 882 are set to strike in Prince Albert starting as early as Aug. 10. CUPE 882 represents the city's inside workers including administrators, building inspectors, bylaw enforcement officers and employees in recreation and information technology.

Members voted 79 per cent in favour of the strike.

Cara Stelmaschuk, vice-president of CUPE 882, says all was going well with negotiations until they got to salaries and the city's bargaining team presented them with a final offer before negotiations could advance.

A news release sent out by Prince Albert last Wednesday, states the city is disappointed with CUPE 882's decision to proceed with a strike. It also says they offered a "generous and fair" 11 per cent wage increase over a four year period.

Stelmaschuk said their bargaining team attempted to counter that offer with a 12 per cent general wage increase over four years, but the city team stuck to their original final offer.

"We took that back to the employer and basically said we've been mandated to reject this offer, we do have approval for job action and strike if need be, but we are willing to continue to negotiate, at which point we were told, 'no this is the final offer.'"

Stelmaschuk says the mayor and councillors received a 20 per cent increase in their compensations from 2016 to 2021 — or double the percentage received by city workers during that same period.

"Over the last seven years the highest [annual] increase our membership has taken is a 1.75 per cent increase," said Stelmaschuk. "That's the highest one in the last seven years and in 2017 we even accepted a zero per cent increase."

The city says the one per cent difference would mean an extra $15 dollars every two weeks per member, "but collectively the  one per cent is a significant amount for the city that property taxpayers would be expected to cover on their tax bills next year." 

The new release also says the city doesn't want to discuss non-wage issues like vacation allocation.

When contacted by CBC, a spokesperson for Prince Albert said the city declined to comment on anything related to negotiations. 

Inflation is one of the key factors driving these negotiation according to Stelmaschuk. She says everyone is suffering under inflation right now, including the workers bargaining for this contract.

"Our pay has not been keeping pace with inflation whatsoever," said Stelmaschuk. "It's eroding the membership buying power. "