The Union is aware that on the 2nd of September, the Employer sent a message to you regarding negotiations. It’s important to understand that the Employer may communicate with you during bargaining, but you need to be aware that any communications you receive from the Employer represent only one side of the story. Below is the update from your Union – we continue to work on achieving a Collective Agreement that reflects the terms and conditions of employment that you deserve.
Status of bargaining
The Union bargaining committee has met multiple times with the Employer – this includes in-person and virtual sessions and via email. While progress has been made, there remain several key issues. As of this update, the Union continues to engage with the Employer with the assistance of a third-party mediator appointed by the Federal Government.
Strike or Lockout
As the Employer has correctly pointed out, the conciliator’s mandate expired on June 18th, 2025, as we were not able to achieve a fair deal for you during conciliation. While the legally required 21-day “cooling-off” period has elapsed, we are not yet in a legal strike position nor can the Employer lock you out, because both ourselves and the Employer do not yet have a Maintenance of Activities agreement which outlines what work will be essential during any strike or lockout. In addition, the Union continues to explore other alternative dispute resolution methods available to us such as arbitration, as such alternatives to a strike or lockout may be in your best interests given what we hope to achieve.
Maintenance of Activities Agreement
Prior to a strike or lockout, the law requires that the parties agree on what work will be essential and must still be performed during a strike or lockout. What’s important to know, is that these essential services must be performed regardless of what other strike activities are taking place. As you are a small bargaining unit, in the event of a strike, every non-essential member’s presence on the picket line is important.
There are parameters around what services must be maintained. In general, only services that are necessary for the health and safety of the public must continue to be provided. At the moment, the parties agree that the OBM and Reverse Osmosis Tech positions must be staffed during a labour interruption but, the Employer is trying to add an additional position to the list of essential employees – the Union believes this third position is not a position that is necessary for public health and safety and believes adding this third position to the Maintenance of Activities Agreement will only serve to reduce the strength of your picket line. As a result, the parties are working with the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to resolve this dispute. We do not yet have a timeline of when a decision will be made but, the Union is working with CIRB to ensure this matter is a priority.
If a strike or lockout occurs
While your pay from the Housing Association will cease during a strike or lockout, it is important to you to understand that the Employer’s communication to you regarding strike pay is misleading. The Public Service Alliance of Canada will provide you with strike pay while you are on the picket line. In addition, the Nunavut Employees Union (NEU) will offer you support throughout any labour disruption as it has done for other LHO bargaining units in past strikes. In addition, it is important for you to understand that strike pay is not taxable.
If it appears a strike or lockout is imminent, PSAC will hold meetings with you to discuss the implications of any labour disruption in greater detail. With our support, you may find your losses are not as significant as the Employer describes.
Where things are at
The Employer’s communication to you is misleading. Your Employer’s wage offers will keep you below the average wages in other Local Housing Organizations (LHOs) in Nunavut. This is because in many cases your wages were already below the average. Providing you with the same wage increases as other LHOs while only adding them onto your existing wages, will only keep your wages below that average. The Union continues to push for a proper wage grid that will place you in line with other Local Housing Organizations in Nunavut. So far, the Employer has refused all our attempts to fix your wage grid as it appears they wish to keep you at lower-than-average wages. In addition, the Employer so far has refused to give retroactive pay to your former colleagues who have left the Housing Association since we began bargaining – these former colleagues of yours performed work for QHA after you certified as a bargaining unit in June of 2023, and while they have now left QHA, at the time they were employed they were underpaid – as a matter of fairness they too deserve proper retroactive pay for the work they have already done for the Employer.
You should also be aware that the Employer is mischaracterizing the significance of the progress made so far – throughout our negotiations, the Employer has steadfastly refused to provide you with some basic Collective Agreement rights that other LHOs in Nunavut have. While indeed many Collective Agreement articles are already agreed to, some of the most important terms and conditions of employment with the greatest impacts on you, such as wages, work schedules, allowances and leaves, are currently unresolved. This is not a new development and the Employer’s refusal to provide you with adequate terms and conditions of employment has not changed with a new PSAC Negotiator stepping in while your previous Negotiator is on vacation – the Employer is fully aware that their Unfair Labour Practice complaint that has been filed alleging bad faith will be vigorously challenged by the Union. We feel strongly that the complaint is without merit and is merely a pressure tactic designed to try to get us to agree to give you less than you deserve. As the Employer is aware, nothing is agreed to, until it is agreed to.
The Union feels the Employer’s complaint is vexatious and vindictive and yet, the Union continues to engage daily with the Employer in the meantime in the hopes of getting you a fair deal that compensates you appropriately for the work that you do. You deserve nothing less.
We know this has been a long process. The Union continues to advance your interests, and we are continuing the fight to get you the rights, wages and other terms and conditions of employment that you deserve. We will not respond to Employer pressure by caving into unreasonable demands. You are hard-working employees of QHA, and you deserve respect from your Employer and nothing less. If you have any questions at any point about the status of bargaining, we encourage you to reach out to your Union and your Union Bargaining Committee to understand what is really going on.
In solidarity,
Your PSAC Bargaining Team