Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Nov 22/99) - In exactly 14 days, Doug "Union Boss" Workman will go head to head with Garry "Management" Pinto, the GN's director of labour relations.

Union Issues - Across-the-board wage increases - Restoration of vacation travel allowance - Housing allowance increases (rent and utilities) - Northern allowance increases - Health plan improvements - Recruitment and retention provisions - Professional development - Employee assistance program - Improvements in policies regarding harassment - Improvements to mandatory leave without pay provisions - Dental plan improvements

And while the ensuing rumble promises to be a tough one, as all contract negotiations inevitably are, both sides are ready to go and are anticipating a co-operative first round.

"We're all prepared to leave our egos outside," said Workman, the president of the Nunavut Employees Union.

"It seems like a true partnership and I don't anticipate any changes in that," he said.

Scheduled to start the morning of Dec. 6 in Iqaluit, the first round of negotiations will last for five days. Both sides will present and exchange their bargaining packages.

The respective teams will then retreat to caucus and form a response to the other side's wish list. Workman explained they would then come back to the table and begin to hash out a collective agreement.

"We don't anticipate getting into the monetary package until later. That normally doesn't happen until we get the other issues out of the way. We're hoping to deal with the language changes and non-monetary benefits first," said Workman.

On Dec. 12, the teams will take the results of the first round of negotiations back to their membership and they'll fine-tune the package until Jan. 24, when the second round will begin.

"We'll see if we can do a creative connection between the two (packages) during that time," said Workman.

Additional rounds have been scheduled for February and March, all in the hopes that a collective agreement is developed in time to replace the current one that expires on March 31.

Workman said that goal was both realistic and attainable and his optimism was echoed by the employer.

Despite Nunavut's rough economic waters, Pinto said he anticipated fairly smooth sailing.

"Our objective as the employer is to work with the union to try and come up with a reasonable position. Both of us want to work towards a contract that is acceptable to both sides," said Pinto.

"The schedule gives us reasonable time to discuss the issues and at the end of the day, we'll see where we are."