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The Crown strike isn’t even a week old yet and it appears that bad feelings are beginning to grow.
Employees represented by Unifor at seven of Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations, including SaskTel, SaskPower and SaskEnergy, have been on strike since Oct. 4.
Now SaskPower says it has experienced barricades that blocked access to the Regina call centre and the Poplar River power station near Coronach.
Their out-of-scope workers say they have experienced bullying behaviour, verbal abuse and physical contact.
Unifor confirmed it is using a private security company on some picket lines.
SaskPower claims those security personnel are outfitted in tactical gear and present themselves in a manner that is intended to intimidate and make staff fearful of crossing a picket line.
The Crown says it considers these to be illegal disruption activities and it is considering its legal options.
The electricity provider says its focus is on ensuring the safety of employees, contractors and the public, and continuing core operations and serving customers.
980 CJME has reached out to Unifor for further comment.
The strike began when Unifor reached an impasse with the government. The union is seeking a raise of two per cent a year – something MLAs got in a 2.3-per-cent cost-of-living increase.
However, Unifor says the offer it got instead was a two-year wage freeze followed by a one-per-cent raise in 2021 and a two-per-cent increase the year after.
While the full strike began on Oct. 4, job action has taken place since Sept. 30, when workers started a work-to-rule campaign, refusing overtime and disregarding company performance targets.
