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NUNAVUT
More than 2,000 unionized employees of the Government of Nunavut and Qulliq Energy Corporation are set to start voting this week on whether to strike.

The GN workers, members of the Nunavut Employees Union, part of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, have been without a contract since Sept. 30, 2010 and the collective agreement between the energy corporation and its approximately 160 unionized employees expired on Dec. 31, 2010.

Strike votes for GN unionized workers will take place Sept. 19 in Kugluktuk and Sept. 20 in Cambridge Bay. The energy corporation's unionized employees will vote Sept. 21 in Cambridge Bay. Votes for other locations are being scheduled with the aim to have all workers canvassed by the end of November.

Nunavut Employees' Union president Doug Workman said the strike mandate votes need to be completed before going into mediation for each of the two bargaining units.

"After a year of bargaining with the government, union proposals covering pay, the Northern allowance, vacation leave and issues related to health-care workers remain unsolved," Workman stated in a press release.

Negotiations on a new collective agreement with the GN started one year ago but delays in appointing a negotiator have extended the bargaining process, stated the NEU.

"Right now, they're offering us a four-year collective agreement," said Workman. "The money is not there. It's zero, one, one and one per cent increases every year of a collective agreement. We made it very crystal clear to them that's just

not enough money."

With QEC, a mediator has been appointed to help break the impasse in negotiating a three-year collective agreement.

"With Qulliq Energy Corporation, the money wasn't there for us. It's financial issues we're dealing with at the table right now," said Workman.

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