SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - City council has unanimously accepted a two-year contract giving unionized city employees a five per cent salary increase over two years.

The full agreement reached between the city and the union has not yet become public, but the terms will result in a 2.5 per cent wage increase in 2011 and again in 2012, Mayor Gord Van Tighem said Thursday. He said more details will be available today.

Staff, other than firefighters, management, and municipal enforcement officers, are represented by the Union of Northern Workers, which represents more than 130 city workers.

The last collective agreement reached by the city and the union was signed Feb. 13, 2008, resulting in a salary increase of 3.5 per cent in 2008, four per cent in 2009 and 6.5 per cent in 2010.

The 2011 negotiation process began in mid-February and came to a conclusion April 20, but not before the city walked away from the negotiating table and then later offered a wage increase of 1.9 per cent for 2011 and 2.1 per cent for 2012, which the union considered an "insult," according to a union press release dated April 14.

The negotiation process was closed to the public, which Barb Wyness, public relations and research officer for the Union of Northern Workers, said is common for these types of negotiations.

She said open bargaining, also known as goldfish bowl bargaining, is usually only used when one party is being unreasonable.

"In that case you want to shame them," she said.

During a closed negotiation, council is informed of the agreement reached between the parties in an in-camera session, said city councillor Shelagh Montgomery. The details of the agreement cannot be released publicly until council has ratified it.

City councillor David Wind said he would like the information to be public before that time, which is why he asked for the details in council chambers on Monday.

At that time, Bob Long, the city's senior administrator, reminded Wind that because negotiations were closed, the nuts and bolts of the agreement wouldn't be

released until council had ratified it.

The city is projected to spend more than $21 million on salaries and benefits this year - about 32 per cent of its overall expenditures, according to the 2011 budget.

The city has 208 employees, a number that has steadily risen from 192 in 2008 when the last agreement was signed.

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