The Union of Northern Workers says it has “not seen sufficient action” from the GNWT at the bargaining table to improve staffing and advance reconciliation.
The union and territorial government are at an impasse, a mediator declared earlier this month, calling for final offers from each side before issuing a set of non-binding recommendations.
If either side rejects those recommendations, the union says it will prepare to hold a strike vote.
In 2019, a strike affecting thousands of GNWT workers was only averted through frantic negotiations the weekend before a scheduled walkout.
At the start of the week, the GNWT said it was offering workers a package “among the most generous in Canada” and a collective agreement that would be “comparable or better than recent public service agreements reached elsewhere in Canada.”
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The territory says that “includes measures to address reconciliation, wages that address cost-of-living challenges and benefits that will retain and assist in the recruitment of qualified staff, in particular healthcare professionals.”
But the UNW said the offer on the table wasn’t enough.
The union said its bargaining team was “extremely disappointed” after the mediator called an impasse, stating “there had been significant movement and there could have been a deal.”
Even so, in a statement on its website, the union’s bargaining team criticized the territorial government’s offer.
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“As a government, the GNWT has made countless commitments to improving recruitment and retention – across all sectors, but especially in healthcare – and to advancing reconciliation but, as an employer, we have not seen sufficient action in these areas,” that statement read.
Neither party has made public any detail related to the negotiations, such as precisely how reconciliation is being addressed or which recruitment and retention measures are being contemplated.
“We still are hopeful that the parties will be able to come to an agreement addressing these concerns and providing a meaningful path forward for improving our public service for all northerners,” the union wrote.
The mediator has asked for final offers by May 3.
The last GNWT collective agreement expired just over a year ago. Its terms remain in place until a new deal is reached.
