$12M ask: N.W.T. gov't workers want fuel allowance, wage hikes
Combined with previous demands, changes would cost an extra $30M, says government
The union representing nearly three quarters of the N.W.T. government's workforce is demanding a new biweekly allowance for fuel and utilities on top of a three per cent yearly wage increase, but the government is balking, saying it would all cost an extra $12 million a year.
It's the latest widening of the gulf between the government and the Union of Northern Workers, who have been at odds over pay increases for the approximately 3,900 workers since early in the negotiations, which began in January. It also comes after the previous round of talks ended on a despairing note last May, according to the union.
"The U.N.W. bargaining team will be consulting with members across the territory during the next two months following another futile negotiating session," Todd Parsons, the president of the union, wrote members after last week's talks.
"We are very disappointed that the government bargaining team has not come to the table prepared to engage in meaningful negotiations about issues important to our members."
The two sides have only reached tentative agreements on "very few items," he added.
That stands in marked contrast to the speedy signing last week — after only five months of negotiation — of a new contract between the government and a separate union representing 460 teachers across the territory. The teachers settled for one-per-cent salary increases in the third and fourth years of their contract.
The U.N.W. is holding a much harder line on pay hikes. In addition to a number of previously proposed top-ups and perks, the union is now seeking a three-per-cent wage hike for the next three years.
The government says those hikes — plus the new fuel and utilities allowance proposal, which, over the course of a year, would total $500 for workers in Yellowknife — would cost about $11.8 million for the current 2016-2017 fiscal year.
When combined with the union's previous monetary demands — everything from a $200 winter clothing allowance to shift premium increases — the yearly cost to the government would be an estimated $29.8 million.
"The GNWT identified at the start of collective bargaining that it faces a range of significant economic challenges that will continue to impact the GNWT in coming years," the government wrote in response to the union's latest proposals.
"The fiscal realities that face the GNWT remain unchanged."
"The GNWT proposes a four year collective agreement with modest salary increases in the third and fourth years."
No schedule for the next round of negotiations has been posted yet.
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