Neils Christensen
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Apr 05/04) - The Government of Nunavut and the Nunavut Employees Union have come to a tentative agreement for a new contract.

The announcement was made April 1, a year since the last contract ended.

Doug Workman, president of the union, said that overall he is pleased with the collective agreement.

"I think the increase in money we received from the government, while not huge, was a fair amount," he said.

Workman said one area he was pleased with was the increase in the Northern allowance.

"On average there is a $1,200 increase for the Northern allowance outside of Iqaluit," he said. "I think that's a good increase."

If ratified by the union, the contract will end Sept. 30, 2006. The contract approves a 10.9 per cent increase over the next two-and-a-half years and is retroactive to last year. The increases are split -- three per cent for the first three years and 1.5 per cent for the last year.

"I think that is a substantial increase for our members," said Workman. "I think we got as much as we could from the employer."

Leona Aglukkaq, minister of finance, said the tentative agreement is good news for everyone.

"We're very pleased to come to an agreement with the union," she said. "I think that it's an agreement that both sides can live with."

Aglukkaq said the contract provides some long-term stability to the government.

During contract negotiations, money was an important issue. Aglukkaq said it's important that the government have an agreement that would fit their budget.

With the year of negotiations over, Aglukkaq said the government can now move forward with its agenda for the territory.

"It was very important to resolve the contract. Hopefully we can now put this aside as concluded and work on the other issues facing Nunavummiut," she said.

The agreement also includes improvements to the type of leaves for employees, shift premiums, stand-by pay, dental plan and trainer's allowance recognition. The union represents 1,700 employees in the territorial government. Workman said the contract will now be given to the members to vote on, which will take a few months. He said the union hopes to have the contract signed by the middle of June.