REGINA—Unifor Local 1-S and Local 2-S will make reversing the trend of contracting out unionized work a key priority as they begin bargaining this week with SaskTel.

“Piece by piece, the Sask Party government is overseeing an unprecedented privatization of SaskTel jobs,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President. “Voters have told the Sask Party that selling SaskTel is a non-starter, so instead the government has chosen to contract out at every opportunity. This race-to-the-bottom has to stop and make no mistake Unifor will be fighting to protect good union jobs that support the community.”

In the last year alone, Unifor has flagged three separate occasions when union work has been offered to the lowest bidder in the private sector. Unifor estimates that more than 500 unionized jobs have been lost since 2018. Some, if not all, of these jobs have gone out of province.

“Scott Moe and the Sask Party are more than happy to watch good local jobs relocate to Alberta or overseas,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor Western Regional Director. “Privatization is a clear betrayal of Crown corporation principles of local ownership for local jobs and local benefit. We will raise this in bargaining and make sure every voter knows the Sask Party is betraying SaskTel and other cherished, home-grown Crown corporations.”

Unifor represents more than 2,500 workers at SaskTel in nearly every region of Saskatchewan.