Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations hit by strike; essential services maintained
More than 5,000 unionized workers at six Crown corporations and one Crown agency are at the picket lines protesting the demand for wage freezes
REGINA – A full-scale strike is getting underway Friday by upwards of 5,000 unionized workers at six Crown corporations and one Crown agency in Saskatchewan.
Picket lines were scheduled to go up at 7 a.m. local time at multiple SaskTel, SaskEnergy, SaskPower, SaskWater, DirectWest, SecurTek and Water Security Agency locations across the province.
The strike comes after negotiators for the province and the workers – members of Unifor – failed to reach a tentative contract by Thursday midnight, and follows a work-to-rule campaign that began Monday.
Unifor had been seeking wage increases of two per cent in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and says the key issue is the government’s demand for wage freezes.
Premier Scott Moe says his government does not believe a general strike would be in the best interests of the Crown corporations or their workers.
He says the Crowns have plans to maintain essential services. (CKRM, The Canadian Press)
