Yellowknife (Apr 01/05) - City council unanimously accepted a three-year contract giving city employees a 10 per cent pay hike over three years, Tuesday night.

The agreement reached two weeks ago between City Hall and the union representing approximately 100 city workers will see a three per cent raise this year, another three per cent next year, and four per cent the year after that.

The agreement is retroactive to Jan. 1. The city budgeted $14 million for salaries and benefits this year, including pay for senior management.

The council vote was an anticlimactic end to a dispute that began last January when union negotiators from the Public Service Alliance of Canada walked away from the bargaining table.

A couple weeks later, a federal conciliator was called in to try and resolve the impasse, but members voted to strike last month if a deal couldn't be reached by the beginning of April.

Despite some heated rhetoric emitting from the union early on, Mayor Gord Van Tighem said it was all part of the normal bargaining process.

"It went like that the last time, just last time there were no press releases," said Van Tighem, noting that a conciliator had to be brought in the last time contract talks took place three years ago.

Though the deal is now ratified, Van Tighem said it will be another two or three months before the full details of the agreement are released to the public. He said City Hall directors have to review and sign the agreement first.

Jean-Francois des Lauriers, regional executive vice-president for the Alliance, said although talks started off acrimoniously, there was a noticeable shift for the better near the end. "The first bargaining session with the employer we did not agree on anything," said des Lauriers.

"There might've been a false impression on the part of the employer that the union did not have the support of the members, and it became very clear through the strike vote that was not the case.

"I think it was a wake-up call for the employer."

Des Lauriers said one concession the union couldn't get from the city was an agreement on harassment guidelines in the workplace.

He said, however, both parties agreed to "keep the lines of communication open" on that issue over the next couple years.