It's a deal
Town of Fort Smith and unionized workers reach four-year contract
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Friday, July 24, 2015
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
The Town of Fort Smith has reached a new collective agreement with its unionized employees.
Brad Brake: mayor of Fort Smith says labour negotiations went very well between the town and its unionized employees. - NNSL file photo
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The four-year deal includes annual wage increases of 1.5 per cent, 2 per cent, and 2.25 per cent in both of the final two years.
Since the previous agreement expired on Dec. 31, 2014, the new contract is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2015. It will expire on Dec. 31, 2018.
The workers are represented by the Union of Northern Workers and the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
Mayor Brad Brake said he is quite pleased with the new contract.
Everything was worked out in less than four days of negotiating - one session in June and a day of talks on July 14.
"Actually, it was probably three days, but we had to wait for ratification," Brake said.
The workers ratified the agreement on July 15, and town council approved it on July 17.
As for why the talks were so fast and productive, Brake said part of the reason is he and town councillors have worked very hard on improving relationships among council, town administration and the unionized employees.
That included creating a Joint Union Management Participation Committee, which meets on a regular basis and deals with issues not covered by the contract.
"We've involved the employees in their own management," Brake explained.
This is the first four-year collective agreement between the town and its unionized workers. Typically, a contract between the two sides has been for two years, although there have been some for three years and even for just one year.
As part of the contract, an agreement was reached on a job classification system that will come into effect on Sept. 1. It is designed to encourage employee retention.
As well, there are improvements in standby, responsibility and callout language that will aid the municipality in weekend and after-hour service delivery, and new provisions for vacation recall.
Letters of understanding were also agreed upon for developing an employee assistance program and a working-alone policy.
Todd Parsons, president of the Union of Northern Workers, said there was good co-operation with give-and-take at the negotiating table.
"It was a very respectful round of negotiations and both parties were very eager to come to a tentative agreement that would address both parties' concerns," he said.
Parsons said it became obvious early in the negotiations that the town was prepared to come to a fair agreement and wanted to do so in a quick timeframe.
Almost 60 full-time, part-time and casual employees are covered by the contract.
That includes office workers, the bylaw officer, facility maintainers, lifeguards, recreation workers, the public works supervisor, water plant operators, equipment operators, labourers and others.
While this year's contract negotiations went smoothly, that was not the case three years ago.
In the summer of 2012, the unionized workers went on strike for 15 days before a contract was reached.
Brake, who was not mayor at the time, said the strike was probably at the back of everybody's mind during the recent negotiating process.
"It wasn't that long ago," he noted. "Strikes are very divisive. Everybody should try and do everything they can to try and avoid a strike."
Parsons believes the strike was a factor in the town providing the workers with a fair and reasonable offer.
The union president was asked if he could explain the starkly different outcomes of negotiations for municipal workers in Fort Smith compared to the neighbouring community of Hay River, where there is an ongoing and bitter strike.
"The difference is negotiations were undertaken fairly respectfully with an attempt to come to an agreeable compromise," he said of the talks in Fort Smith. "That's not the case in the Town of Hay River. The employer does not seem to be prepared to negotiate fairly. They're certainly entrenched and not willing to find a compromise."
Parsons said he hopes the mayor and council in Hay River are watching what has happened in Fort Smith.
