City workers protest letter
Union sets up burning barrel as city's years-long spending problem comes home to roost
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, April 4, 2016
IQALUIT
That the City of Iqaluit is marred with financial problems after years of racking up debt is common knowledge, but its unionized employees aren't taking the harsh news of change in the air too well.
Unionized city workers gather outside city hall March 30 to protest a letter the city sent them by burning dozens of copies of it. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photo |
A letter from the city to its workers laid out a list of ways Iqaluit would be dealing with its deficit, including a two-year freeze on the current salary grid, a zero per cent increase in salary and benefits, restructuring of vacation travel allowance (VTA), removal of the second VTA, reduction of relocation expenses and, lastly, layoffs.
The proposal's stated intent is to minimize even greater potential layoffs within the next two years while the city attempts to achieve deficit reduction by Dec. 31, 2017.
In response, the Public Service Alliance of Canada and Nunavut Employees Union staged a letter-burning event outside city hall on March 30. Union members, some arriving in their work vehicles, took turns tossing copies of the city's letter into a burning barrel.
"I'm here because I have a family to support," said James Dorrington, a garbage truck worker who's been in Iqaluit for six years.
"I've got three kids at home, a four-year-old, five-year-old and a 15-year-old, and I need a job. I need money to be raising my kids, paying my bills. What they're offering us is not what we need. We need fair wages, we need fair representation, we want our VTAs, we need our VTAs."
Nunavut Employees Union president Bill Fennell said the event was designed to show the city that its workers are not intimidated by the letter.
"They basically don't want to follow the collective agreement and they haven't," he said.
"We want to negotiate in good faith with the city and that's what we're trying to do. This today, if that's what it takes to get them to come to the table and know we're serious, then we're going to do stuff like that."
Mayor Madeleine Redfern said there's not a firm number for how many layoffs could be on the horizon within the city's 150-strong staff, but that the city would be looking at any way possible to improve operational efficiencies.
"The city is looking at all its operations to identify where we can have operational efficiencies," she said.
"We recognize to achieve that there may be some restructuring that is done and the ultimate goal is not only to look at improving services to our residents, improving internal operations, but also saving the city some money. It is a worthwhile exercise for any large organization to do on a regular basis."
The city hopes to get the collective bargaining agreement signed and be in a good financial position so that it doesn't have to raise taxes, she added.
"We recognize that there are going to be some necessary cutbacks," said Redfern.
