City of Yellowknife and union reach tentative deal after month-long strike

The City of Yellowknife and the union representing the majority of its workers have come to a tentative agreement.

On Sunday, Mayor Rebecca Alty sent a letter to city administrator Sheila Bassi-Kellett requesting a special council meeting be scheduled so that councillors could give first, second and third reading to the tentative collective agreement. That meeting has been scheduled for March 14 at 5 p.m. 

The letter was posted to the City of Yellowknife's website as an agenda for the meeting on Tuesday. CBC News independently confirmed the tentative agreement had been reached through a source with knowledge of the negotiations.

The details of the tentative agreement have not been made public.

The 205 unionized municipal workers must now vote whether to accept the terms of the tentative agreement. There is no word on when that could take place and officials with the Public Service Alliance of Canada and Union of Northern Workers could not be reached for comment.

If the terms of the agreement are not accepted, workers would head back to the picket lines.

Month-long strike

Unionized employees went on strike on Feb. 8 after negotiations with a federally appointed mediator between the two parties failed to produce an agreement. 

Since then, city recreation facilities, the library and the municipal dump have all been closed, and recycling and compost initiatives suspended. 

The city and the union have been trying to negotiate a new collective agreement since May, but were deadlocked over wages.

The union most recently proposed a 3.75 per cent wage increase starting Jan. 1, 2022, and a 3.75 per cent wage increase starting Jan. 1, 2023. It had previously asked for five per cent for 2022, and three per cent for 2023.

The city maintained it could only offer a two per cent increase for 2022, and two per cent for 2023.