Housing authority workers have two weeks to call strike
72-hour notice required before walkout can begin; strike deadline set for Feb. 10
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Published Monday, January 26, 2015
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Unionized workers at the Fort Smith Housing Authority have been in a legal strike position since Jan. 13, however no walkout has yet taken place and no strike date has been set as of last week.
"Everything is still in the court of the employer," said Jack Bourassa, regional executive vice-president for the North with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). "If they want to come back to the table and talk again, then certainly we are ready to do so."
The eight workers are members of the Union of Northern Workers (UNW) - a component of PSAC, which is its certified bargaining agent under the Canada Labour Code.
Bourassa said the workers would have to give 72 hours notice before walking out.
"We have until Feb. 10 to call the strike," he said, explaining a strike vote taken on Dec. 11 is effective for 60 days.
"We don't want to go out of our way to call a strike and create an inconvenience for the members of the community," he said. "We'd like to see if we can't resolve this issue without having to engage in a strike."
However, Bourassa said it is "entirely possible" there will be a strike before the Feb. 10 deadline.
In fact, he noted the workers were to receive strike training on Jan. 24 and 25.
The workers unanimously rejected the employer's final offer on Jan. 8 after months of contract negotiations.
The offer was put to the workers after negotiations broke down and an unsuccessful meeting was held with a federal conciliation officer on Dec. 22.
The issues in the negotiations included such things as pay rates, leave allowances and housing subsidies.
Attempts by News/North to obtain a comment on the labour situation from the Fort Smith Housing Authority were unsuccessful.
The authority manages and maintains about 150 subsidized housing units owned by the GNWT in Fort Smith.
The unionized workers include carpenters and plumbers.
