North

Indigenous cultural leave, pay raises in tentative deal between City of Yellowknife and union

The City of Yellowknife and the Union of Northern Workers have reached a tentative agreement for city staff that would see yearly salary increases of three per cent for three years and increased leave.

Tentative agreement still to be ratified by Union of Northern Workers members

A statue of a bison with flowers on it.
Yellowknife city hall with overgrown grass and gardens on Sep. 6, 2023. The city and the Union of Northern Workers say they have reached a tentative deal that would see wage increases for staff and more leave provisions. (Kate Kyle/CBC)

The City of Yellowknife and the Union of Northern Workers have reached a tentative agreement for city staff that would see yearly salary increases of three per cent for three years, and increased leave.

The agreement still needs to be ratified by union members before coming to city council for final approval.

In an update Monday, the Union of Northern Workers said the agreement includes a wage increase of 2.25 per cent, retroactive to Jan. 1. It also includes increases of three per cent each for 2025, 2026 and 2027.

The new agreement would give staff mandatory rest periods of eight hours between shifts, one new paid leave day for Indigenous cultural leave, an additional five weeks of parental leave, and more flexible work arrangements, among other items.

In a news release Monday afternoon, the City of Yellowknife said the agreement will last until Dec. 31, 2027.

It said it is separately negotiating collective agreements for staff members in municipal enforcement and with the fire department.

Yellowknife's last collective agreement was approved in March 2023 and came after months of tension between the city and the union.

Last year, city staff voted to strike after mediation efforts for a new collective agreement failed. The city also issued a lockout notice.

At the time, the city argued it could only offer a two-per-cent wage increase for staff in 2022 and 2023, well below the 3.75 per cent increase the union had proposed. Eventually, the city agreed to a compounded wage increase of 5.8 per cent for the two years.