As a government that is generally unfriendly to unions takes office in Saskatchewan, the labour movement faces untold serious challenges. At the same time it is embarrassed by a lockout of 65 workers. Their numbers are small, but the impact of the lockout could be huge. Ironies abound.

The locked-out workers belong to CEP (Communications, Energy and Paperworkers’ Union) Local 481. On November 6, their employer, the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees’ Union (SGEU)—yep, union—served them with a lockout notice. The CEP members represent and bargain on behalf of most provincial public servants, along with the staff of some provincial crowns and many community-based organizations in the non-government sector.

A two-day bargaining session had ended in stalemate two hours earlier. CEP 481 president Kelly Diebel, in a temporary position with SGEU as an agreement administration advisor and on leave from her regular job an administration assistant, was at the table for that session.

“We gave them a package (of updated contract proposals), and said we’d come back to the table for their response whenever they were ready,” she said.

“They discussed our package briefly, and came back to say, ‘Our last offer is our last offer’. We said, ‘We’re done then’, and went out on strike. Two hours later the SGEU president issued us a lock-out notice.”

Diebel said she was surprised the union decided to lock out its striking workers. She had read media comments by SGEU President Bob Bymoen that the union did not want CEP members in the building, and locked them out in order to protect the privacy of its membership.

“We wouldn’t cross our own picket line, so why did they do this?” she asked.

I asked Diebel how it felt to be locked out by a union. “I was somewhat surprised they’d do that,” she replied. “What is that telling people? I think our members were somewhere between upset and disgusted by their actions—somewhat betrayed. This has just given the green light for other employers in Saskatchewan and elsewhere to do the same to their workers.”

I asked Diebel what it’s like to bargain a contract with a union. “It’s actually quite frustrating at times,” Diebel replied. “As union members we have certain expectations about bargaining with a union employer, but it seems as soon as they put their employer hat on, they can be as difficult to bargain with as any private or public sector employer. Our contract should set a standard that they then try to negotiate for their members.”

The past two CEP contracts with SGEU were concluded only after mediation. The difficulties at the bargaining table puzzle Diebel. “The SGEU leadership seem to resent what we have gained in the past,” she said.

“Some of what they say about us is the same as what people say about government workers. They seem to have forgotten that a lot of our members worked very hard to get them (SGEU members) some good collective agreements over the past year.”

She mentioned major settlements including contracts for the union’s largest sectors, which cover government employees, SIAST staff province-wide, Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority workers and staff of the Workers’ Compensation Board.

In a clear contradiction of trade union principles, SGEU management has demanded concessions from the CEP Local. Diebel highlighted the irony: “As a union, SGEU rightly denounces employers when they demand concessions at the bargaining table. But as an employer itself, SGEU is asking employees to give up a long-standing benefit and is offering no offset in return.”

SGEU management is demanding take-aways from CEP 481’s sick-leave program, which Diebel described as a model program.

“It is better than most sick-leave plans enjoyed by SGEU members, and we make no apologies for that. When it was put in place more than 25 years ago, both SGEU and its staff agreed to its provisions.”

“Rather than attack the program for its comprehensive protection of ill and disabled workers, SGEU should be using its staff's sick-leave program as a model when it goes to the bargaining table with the Government of Saskatchewan, Workers' Compensation Board, SIAST and other employers.”

Diebel was shocked by the management position at the table. “It was all about them,” she said. “They just said, ‘You have it; we don’t. We don’t want you to have it.’”

The SGEU leadership also seems to have very long memories, according to Deibel. When discussing wage demands, Diebel said management would state: ‘You got economic increases when Devine was in and we didn’t.’”

“It’s just astounding,” she said.

At a time when CEP staff bargained increases of more than 10 per cent for most SGEU members, the union is offering its staff wage increases of zero, one and two per cent over the same three-year period. The offer doesn’t even match the cost of living, which has been increasing at between two and three per cent in each of those same years.

Diebel said the lockout has major implications for the province’s labour movement. “To go without a contract for two and a half years and have the employer try to dictate concessions and not bargain, and then lock us out, it sends a message to the new government and employers, both unionized and not.”

Diebel calls on SGEU members to contact their elected members of the union’s governing Provincial Council and also SGEU president Bob Bymoen.

“They should show they believe this is absolutely unacceptable,” she said. “What SGEU is doing is contrary to any union principles. It won’t just impact our local. It will impact them as well. SGEU's commitment to workers' rights is measured by its treatment of the people it employs.”

The situation at SGEU bears watching across the labour movement. For years Darcy Martin, a veteran labour educator from Ontario, has challenged union activists to confront “the boss in our heads”. It’s time for SGEU members to challenge the “bosses” in their own leadership. To do any less is to set up the Saskatchewan labour movement for similar mistreatment by employer after employer based on the precedents SGEU is setting in this lockout.

Meanwhile the SGEU executive is waiting out the lock-out in the warm comfort of the Ramada Inn, where president Bob Bymoen could not be reached for comment.

Martha Tracey is a retired civil servant and former member of SGEU. She was active in her union for many years, and could never understand the anti-staff attitudes of some union members.

Sign a petition to SGEU’s provincial council

More information: CEP 481 blogsite 

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