Saskatchewan nurses vote 92.4 per cent in favour of two-year contract

REGINA – Saskatchewan nurses have voted 92.4 per cent in favour of accepting a two-year contract that includes a lump-sum payment in lieu of a wage increase in the first year.

Union president Rosalee Longmoore says the time frame allows the union to watch Alberta nurses and make adjustments in the next round of bargaining.

Longmoore didn’t know how many of the province’s 9,000 nurses voted on the deal.

The union had already said Saskatchewan’s nurses were above the western Canadian average, so it couldn’t negotiate a pay hike in the first year.

But there will be a two per cent wage increase in the second year of the deal.

The agreement runs from April 1 to March 31, 2014.

Saskatchewan nurses signed their last contract in 2008. That deal gave them a five per cent wage increase in each year of a four-year contract, as well as a five per cent bump to bring them in line with what Alberta nurses were making.