Kevin Wilson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 01/01) - The GNWT has a tentative collective agreement with the union representing its employees.

The Union of Northern Workers and the GNWT reached the agreement shortly after midnight Friday, after a four-day bargaining marathon. The agreement covers 3,200 GNWT employees.

"We're quite pleased," said Sylvia Haener, the GNWT's director of labour relations and compensation.

"It's a three-year agreement, which gives us a fair amount of stability," she added.

In addition to the stability of a three-year contract Haener said the GNWT wanted to put a package on the table, "that was fair and would attract employees."

UNW president Georgina Rolt-Kaiser said that despite the "give and take" between the two sides, the union is, "very, very pleased with the new contract."

The tentative agreement is the second negotiated between the GNWT and the UNW in the past 18 months.

The government's last contract with the union expired March 31. If ratified, the new agreement will last three years.

Haener said negotiators for both sides worked feverishly to cobble together the new agreement.

"We were probably putting in 12-to-14-hour days. It was quite gruelling," she said.

Barb Wyness, the UNW's public relations officer agreed.

"It was the wee hours before we got an agreement," said Wyness.

"It's a history-making agreement," she added, noting it was the first time the union has had an agreement less than 30 days after the last one expired.

Kaiser said the union has "had a number of calls from the membership saying they're very, very happy, especially with the extra leave and the changes to the Northern allowance."

Employees will receive annual pay hikes of three per cent during the life of the contract.

Other improvements include recognizing National Aboriginal Day as a statutory holiday, improvements to shift premiums, and Northern allowances, and an extra week of leave for employees with seven or more years of seniority.

Employees must still ratify the agreement. A ratification vote is expected in next few weeks.