Mediation between the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and the Union of Northern Workers has been postponed.
The union made the decision to postpone mediation scheduled for February 12th and 13th as a result of ‘developments coming out of GNWT mediation’. The information was shared by the bargaining team on the union’s website.
READ MORE: GOVERNMENT WORKERS WILL NOT STRIKE MONDAY
At 12:30 a.m. Sunday the union and GNWT announced a compromise – no negotiated agreement was reached but the parties agreed to have their remaining issues put to a mediator for binding recommendations. As a condition, a strike notice given to the government for 12:01 a.m. Monday was called off.
The strike notice for NTPC workers was also called off, a communique on the UNW website states.
Communications manager Doug Prendergast says the NTPC is ‘disappointed’ the union cancelled the mediation sessions.
“We believe there was value in moving forward with those sessions, but it does require two parties to attend a mediation session,” he says.
“The situation will unfold over the coming days, but at this point we don’t know what the timetable might look like to resume negotiations.”
Prendergast says the power corporation has 210 positions across the territory, around 75 per cent or 162 of those are unionized. Union members occupy a wide variety of roles, including plant operations and skilled trades.
MyYellowknifeNow has reached out to UNW for comment on what the next steps are for mediation with the NTPC.
