Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Published Monday, June 16, 2008

NUNAVUT - Members of the Nunavut Employees Union (NEU) voted to accept a new collective agreement with the territorial government.

Eighty-eight per cent of unionized workers were in favour, the union announced Friday morning.

"The litmus test throughout the life of this agreement will be whether it will be enough to retain our employees. We hope it will, and we hope it will help recruit the crucial positions we need to ensure a successful public service," said Doug Workman, president of the NEU.

Ninety per cent of unionized workers had voted in favour of strike action before the last round of collective bargaining talks ended successfully in May.

This will be the first agreement between the NEU and the GN since September 2006. It is retroactive to Oct. 1 2006 and will last for two years.

NEU hopes to avoid a similar situation in the future, according to Workman.

"We cannot afford to have another set of negotiations go on as long as it did," Workman said. "We're going to start this process sooner, so that we'll have a new collective agreement ready to implement before the next expires."

NEU will likely be contacting locals throughout the territory in a year's time to learn what improvements they would like to see, according to Workman.

The newly-ratified agreement includes a 19 per cent compounded pay rate increase over its life and a five per cent annual increase for the Nunavut northern living allowance.

It does not include retro-pay, something which many members were unhappy with.

An official signing should take place early this week, according to Workman.