Due to a breakdown in the ongoing negotiations between SaskTel and Unifor, all Sasktel employees with the union will be going on strike effective Oct. 4.
Negotiations between the two organizations began on Jan. 29, reaching an impasse in March. Despite the appointment of a conciliator, negotiations have reached a standstill and no agreement has been made.
Unifor is disputing a monetary package deal offered by SaskTel in August, which offered flat wages until 2020 and a 1 per cent wage increase in 2021. The union felt the deal was unfair, which began negotiations.
Around 3,000 Unifor members are currently employed with SaskTel, all of which will take part in the walkout. Under the Canada Labour Code, emergency services such as 911 must be maintained, and Unifor is under an essential services agreement with all Crown corporations.
The real impact of the labour disruption will be to SaskTel’s non-essential services, largely the installation of new services.
All of SaskTel’s retail stores will be closed during the labour disruption and while customers can make minimal changes to their service plans online, activation of new services will not be possible.
Customers will also be unable to transfer their services in the event of a move.
SaskTel authorized dealers can still offer activation services, and all other requests for changes are to be directed to the Sasktel helpline at 1 (800) 727-5835.
Equipment returns are to be mailed to the Distribution Centre in Regina, and bills can be paid online, by mail, or at a bank or credit union.
SaskTel will have the management team members working to maintain current services, to mitigate disruptions for customers. Their main focus will be keeping current networks and services operational.
Several Crown corporations, including SaskTel, began work-to-rule job action on Sept. 30, with minimal service interruptions thus far. SaskTel is the first to announce a contingency plan for the full-scale strike action.
