Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/06/2010 (4743 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EMPLOYEES at Red River College and Assiniboine Community College will take a strike vote next week, after 36 bargaining sessions were unable to resolve a year-long contract dispute.

Instructors and support staff at the two colleges have been without a contract since last summer. They will vote June 7 to 10, with a decision announced by June 11. About 20 Red River staff picketed outside the college’s downtown Winnipeg campus on Thursday.

“Our members at the college(s) are frustrated at the process, and frustrated at the delay,” said Manitoba Government and General Employees Union president Peter Olfert. “They feel they have no option other than to take a strike vote. Hopefully that will get us back to the bargaining table.”

When talks started, the colleges offered a wage deal similar to the Manitoba Hydro deal — a two-year contract including annual raises of 2.9 and 2.5 per cent.

But that was before the Selinger government announced it would seek a wage freeze with its government employees. Now, the colleges’ staff face a freeze.

Red River College said Thursday the two sides will meet again later this month.

“We feel we’re bargaining in good faith and we’ll continue to meet,” spokeswoman Twylla Krueger said. “We’d all love to have it resolved today, but there’s always a process.”

Olfert couldn’t say whether a strike would affect spring and summer courses.

“Our bargaining committee will determine strategies (for) when the strike might occur,” he said.

Olfert has said the union would file an allegation of unfair labour practice with the Manitoba Labour Board.

— Staff