REGINA -- The Government of Saskatchewan announced its six Crown corporations have reached tentative agreements with their Unifor Locals, ending a 17-day strike.
In a release, the province said SaskEnergy, SaskPower, SaskTel, Directwest, SecurTek and SaskWater signed memoranda of agreement on Sunday. Union workers for the Water Security Agency also reached a tentative deal on October 10.
Crown employees will begin voting on the tentative deals over the next few weeks. Workers will be back to work on Monday, however operations will take a few days to return to normal.
“These agreements were reached because dedicated teams were determined to achieve agreements that are fair and beneficial to both the employees and the corporations,” said Blair Swystun the President and CEO of Crown Investments Corporation. “On behalf of the leadership at each of the Crowns and CIC, thank you to the Crown bargaining teams and Unifor’s negotiators who have worked tirelessly to reach settlements.”
Premier Scott Moe also tweeted out a message thanking the bargaining teams for working through the weekend to get a deal done, shortly after the tentative agreement was announced.
Thank you to the bargaining teams on both sides for bargaining in good faith and working hard over the weekend so that the employees of these Crowns can be back at work early this week. https://t.co/A8WFcJYvn6
— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) October 20, 2019
Details on the agreement will not be available until the deal is ratified by the union employees at all seven Crown corporations.
"We still have to work out all of those details and obviously we're not going to talk about the details until the members get a chance to see what's out there," Scott Doherty, executive assistant to the president of Unifor, said. "But, we're recommending acceptance of the collective agreement and very happy to say that we broke the mandate."
The province said employees can expect more information about the tentative deal on Sunday evening.