Creeden Martell

The Saskatchewan government has struck a deal with six striking Crown corporations, the government announced Sunday. No details will be released until ratification.

SaskEnergy, SaskPower, SaskTel, Directwest, SecurTek and SaskWater&nbsp;employees will begin returning to work Oct. 21 but operations will take a few days for things to normalize, the government said.

"I think today's a good day," said Chris MacDonald, lead negotiator for&nbsp;SaskTel and its subsidiaries, DirectWest and SecureTek.

"We're relieved tonight to know that we've got a contract that we can recommend to our members —&nbsp;that in our view is a decent contract — that beats&nbsp;the 5 per cent mandate by the Moe&nbsp;government."

The province declined to comment but Premier Scott Moe tweeted a message of thanks to negotiators on both sides.

Thank you to the bargaining teams on both sides for bargaining in good faith and working hard over the weekend so that the employees of these Crowns can be back at work early this week. <a href="https://t.co/A8WFcJYvn6">https://t.co/A8WFcJYvn6</a>

Unifor asks for third party to aid negotiations with province

With no breakthrough on Friday, Unifor says it will continue negotiations with the Crowns and will either get a deal or keep striking until they do.

A man surrounded by a crowd and microphones.

Jerry Dias asked for help from a third party to break an impasse between Unifor and the government of Saskatchewan in an effort to end the ongoing strike by employees of Crown Corporations.

Jerry Dias Unifor national president bargaining update Oct 18 2019

Downtown Regina businesses say Unifor strike hurting bottom line

Businesses in downtown Regina say they're starting to experience the splash damage after Unifor workers hit the picket lines on Oct. 4.

Aaron Ens, head chef at The Fat Badger in downtown Regina, said there has been a noticeable slow down in business since Unifor workers went on strike.

Aaron Ens

Staff at The Fat Badger and Taco Time in the Cornwall Centre said they've had to make staff and shift changes to compensate for the drop in customers.

Downtown Regina affected by unifor strike maybe

The Unifor members at the province's Crown corporations had been on strike since Oct. 4. Since then, the employees had been picketing outside of government offices, events and work sites.

Unifor has asked for a three-year agreement with a two per cent wage increase each year, which Unifor says would match the rising cost of living. That request was previously rejected by the government.

The deals will be voted on and finalized by union members in the coming weeks.

"We're satisfied with where we got to," MacDonald said.

Striking Crown corporation workers have reached a deal with the provincial government but the details will not be released until the deals have been ratified. 

'Today's a good day,' Unifor negotiator says as striking Crowns strike deal with government

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