SIAST and the union representing 2,000 of its employees had yet to reach an agreement early Monday night, less than 24 hours before classes resume for 15,000 students across the province.
It's still unclear if classes will resume as scheduled today. At 5 p.m. Monday, the Saskatchewan Government Employees' Union (SGEU) was reviewing the latest proposal concocted with the help of a mediator who was brought in on Labour Day in a last-minute effort to salvage the beginning of the school year. Visit leaderpost. com for the latest developments.
SGEU had warned the SIAST community that it could take strike action today at its four campuses in Saskatchewan. The two sides were holding informal talks on the weekend, but a SIAST news release issued Sunday afternoon said the employer and the union agreed to mediation talks in Saskatoon on Monday.
By 7: 30 p.m. Monday, the two sides were still in mediation at the Radisson hotel, although a SIAST spokesperson could not say if an agreement was imminent or how late into the evening mediation could go.
SIAST spokesperson Patricia Gillies declined to talk about the institution's plan in the event of a strike, but said all the latest updates for students would be posted to Campusupdate.ca
The 1,300 SIAST instructors and 700 professional services staff have been without a contract since June 2009.
After about 40 days of bargaining and four days of conciliation, the union issued strike notice in November 2010. SIAST responded with a lockout notice, but neither side acted on their notices.
On Sunday, both sides declined to comment on the mediation talks.
The brief news release simply stated that the provincial government helped negotiate the agreement to use a third-party mediator.
SIAST director of labour relations Don Soanes said the institution hoped to settle the contract talks on Monday to avoid a disruption of classes. Most SIAST students started school last week and the rest start this week.
"It's a pretty tense situation right now," Soanes said in a brief interview. "We're optimistic we can do something. There's nothing else to say."
Both sides have suggested to ban communications with the media until after the talks, said SGEU bargaining chairperson Jim Steele. "What you see in the media release is what's been agreed to," he said.
The two sides agreed to mediation in the past year, but it ended in January with SIAST tabling its final offer, which included a 5.5-per-cent wage increase over three years.
jjwarren@thestarphoenix. com
© Copyright (c) The Regina Leader-Post
0 comments:
Post a Comment