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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Negotiations between the Town of Fort Smith and its unionized workers have hit an impasse over the possibility of the contracting work now performed by union members.

Janie Hobart: No immediate plans to contract out union positions.

Bruce Gudeit, a member of the negotiating team with Local 2 of the Union of Northern Workers, said town employees are firm on their position and will not tolerate a deal that could see union jobs go to private contractors.

"We're hoping there's not a strike. Nobody's going to win if there's a strike," he said. "But the contracting out is something that we're not going to budge on."

Gudeit noted the town is not currently contracting work normally done by members of the bargaining unit, but he said there are some indications the municipality may be considering it.

The union representative would not go into details about those indications, but noted Fort Smith is a small town. "Information becomes known," he said.

He said the town admitted during negotiations that it was looking into the possibility of contracting some services.

Gudeit said work such as snow removal, water delivery, garbage pickup, grave digging, sewage pump-out, and operation of the landfill, arena and pool has been contracted in the past.

To illustrate their resolve, the unionized workers overwhelmingly voted in favour of a strike on May 10.

Gudeit said the vote was more than 90 per cent in support of strike action if it becomes necessary, adding that up to 90 per cent of the 70 to 75 workers in the bargaining unit cast ballots.

The negotiator - one of three on the negotiating team - noted the union has proposed clear language on the contracting out issue.

"Basically, all we want is job security for our present membership and we don't want loopholes on anything in the wording that comes up," he said. "The statement that we want in the contract is: 'There will be no contracting out of bargaining unit work.' We just want to say keep things as they are."

Mayor Janie Hobart said the town has proposed language in a new contract that would be a "balanced approach" to ensuring the opportunity for the mayor and council to be able to administer municipal services in an effective manner.

"There has to be the balance between being fiscally responsible and ensuring that the employees of the Town of Fort Smith feel comfortable and that it's a stable working environment," she said. "The language that we have provided is stronger than what the Government of the Northwest Territories currently offers its employees, which are also union members, and it is very similar to what the Town of Hay River offers its employees, which makes it one of the strongest wordings on contracting out in the Northwest Territories."

Hobart expressed puzzlement about why the union has made private contracts such an important issue.

"I must say that the town has a history with this council of moving the opposite way," she said. "We have taken jobs that were contract and brought them into the fold. We've worked with the union to reduce the number of casual positions and there has been nothing that the town has projected at this time on contracting out. So I don't know why this issue has become such a hot-button issue."

There is nothing "on the radar" in terms of contracting out bargaining unit jobs, she said. "In fact, just last year we bought a water truck. Why would we buy a water truck if we were planning to privatize?"

However, Hobart said the town cannot agree to contract wording that would tie the hands of the current council and future councils.

The union said it is not asking the town to stop signing contracts for services normally done by contractors, such as road construction, website design and janitorial services in some town buildings.

Both Hobart and Gudeit said contract negotiations between the union and the town on other issues were generally positive and items such as salary and Northern allowances are either settled or close to being settled.

The mayor also said she hopes a settlement can be reached in a non-adversarial manner.

Negotiations began in January for a new contract and the last talks were in late March. The previous three-year contract expired on Dec. 31. The two sides will now meet with a conciliator on May 30.

Gudeit, who works as a landfill attendant with the town, said, if no agreement is reached during conciliation, there will be a cooling off period and a strike notice period, meaning the very earliest there might be a strike would be at the end of June or sometime in July.

"We don't want to go on strike," he said. "But we don't want to see any of our members lose positions."

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