There was plenty of noise in downtown Prince Albert on Monday evening as CUPE 882 held a rally on the steps outside of city hall.
Members of CUPE 882 voted in favor of strike action in July and have taken progressive job action over the past couple of weeks including the refusal to follow uniform or attire policies, standards, conventions, and rules in city facilities.
In attendance for Monday’s rally was CUPE national president Mark Hancock. Hancock calls Vancouver, B.C. home, but is often traveling to meet with various CUPE members.
He says he wanted to be in Prince Albert to show support for CUPE 882 members.
“It’s important for these members, for these workers to let the community know that they’re in a difficult round of bargaining. This is down to crunch time. Nobody wants to be here, and nobody wants to take that next action of strike. All of these folks want to be doing their job, whether it’s in recreation or city hall. The only way we’re going to be able to get to that point is to get back to the bargaining table with council and with the administration (to) work something out.”
The City of Prince Albert has never experienced a strike and there has not been a CUPE strike in the province of Saskatchewan for more than a decade.
“We’re going to be there every step of the way.” Hancock added. “If they have to go on strike, they’ll get strike pay. Our strike fund is extremely healthy. This isn’t the first strike that we’ve had across the country (and) the first one we’ve had in Saskatchewan in about 12 years. I understand if we do get to that point, it’s important that they know that they’re part of a national union, that there’s 715,000 members across this country that are looking out for them one way or another.”
Cara Stelmaschuk, the vice president of CUPE 882, in her speech at the rally said the city has not been willing to negotiate.
“I want to start by countering some of the spin that the city has been spewing. The employer has been saying the parties have been bargaining for months. The truth is that the parties have met eight times and only two of those days were for monetary issues. On the first day we spoke about monetary, the union presented the employer with their proposal and the employer did not respond. The second day, the employer brought forward their proposal of 11 per cent and the union countered with an offer to the employer, responded to her counter with a final offer, which was the same as the initial offer.”
The union sent out a press release on Tuesday saying CUPE 882 members representing the inside workers at the City of Prince Albert voted to reject the City’s last offer.
“The results are clear: our members will not settle for the city’s lowball offer. We demand that the city come back to the table prepared to negotiate a fair deal,” said Stelmaschuk in the press release.
“The union will be meeting to discuss next steps, but a full withdrawal of services will be in the cards if the city does not provide bargaining dates immediately.”
After last week’s city council meeting, Mayor Greg Dionne said the City of Prince Albert made the best offer it could to union members, and they have no intention of increasing it.
“We put on the table everything we have, and that’s all we have, whether you’re in-scope or out-of-scope. That’s why we moved ahead with it. Normally the out-of-scope gets whatever the in-scope does, but we have no more money and that’s the offer, and so we moved ahead for the out-of-scope.”
Other guest speakers at the rally included NDP Saskatoon-Meewasin MLA Nathaniel Teed and CUPE Saskatchewan president Judy Henley.
CUPE 882 members have been without a contract since September 2021.
-with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
editorial@paherald.sk.ca
