Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 08/01) - Some federal civil servants and their government bosses have set aside differences over wages on, largely because of last month's terrorist attacks on America, the union says.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) agreed to wage increases of 3.2, 2.8 and 2.5 per cent in each of the next three years.

"We arrived at closure, at this point, because the country is in a crisis," said Jean Francois Des Lauriers, PSAC's northern vice-president.

"That was definitely a factor that influenced the negotiating teams in reaching the tentative agreement."

But just two of four bargaining units within the union are being asked to approve the government's package. In the North, that's only 250 of about 700 PSAC members. Negotiators for trades people and two employees in the education and library group recommend the deal, but the rest - administrators and technicians, are being asked to turn down the deal.

Members won't vote on the deal until later this month.

PSAC's 700 federal employees in the North are spread throughout NWT, Nunavut and Yukon.

Des Lauriers said all PSAC negotiators, in the wake of the U.S. disasters, realize the duties of civil servants are more important than ever.

"We've got people with National Defence, the RCMP, people who provide all the services for state security and welfare of the citizens.

"In a situation like this, the state of crisis we're in supersedes the conflict they may have with their employer."

As a result of circumstances behind the quick settlement, the union is not happy with it but they'll worry about it after the crisis has passed, De Lauriers said.