Yellowknife (February 3, 2016) – The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) and the Union of Northern Workers (UNW) concluded their first round of negotiations of a new collective agreement on Friday.

Collective bargaining is the process through which employees, represented by their union, and management in an organization come together and negotiate the terms and conditions of employment. The GNWT and UNW are currently working toward a new collective agreement that will take effect when the current agreement expires on March 31, 2016.

Both the UNW and GNWT believe that respecting the agreed upon negotiating process and ensuring all bargaining is conducted at the negotiating table is critical to the conclusion of a new collective agreement. The parties will continue to make spokespersons available to speak about the technical aspects of negotiations, but would like to remind the media that it would be inappropriate for either party to share any information that could be seen as interfering with or compromising negotiations.

Representatives from the GNWT and UNW will reconvene on March 29, 2016. Information about the bargaining process, GNWT and UNWT proposals and updates will continue to be posted online at:

http://www.hr.gov.nt.ca/bargaining

http://www.unw.ca/government-nwt

Media Inquiries:

Andrew Livingstone
Senior Cabinet Communications Advisor
Department of Executive
Government of the Northwest Territories
Tel: (867) 767-9000 ext. 11091
E-mail: andrew_livingstone@gov.nt.ca

Todd Parsons
President
Union of Northern Workers
Tel: (867) 873-5668
E-mail: pres@unw.ca
Web: www.unw.ca