Members of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union (NSGEU) will cast ballots between Dec. 12 and 14 on whether to accept a tentative deal with the government. The official result will be announced on Dec. 14.
The voting will happen more than a year after the union recommended members accept the tentative deal from the government. They later retracted that recommendation.
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NSGEU represents about 7,600 civil servants in the province. Job security has the most critical issue for union members throughout the negotiations.
Teachers negotiations influencing decision
The downward spiral of negotiations between the provincial government and teachers influenced NSGEU’s decision to reverse its recommendation.
Teachers voted down a second tentative agreement earlier this month. After a concilliator’s report into the negotiations was filed Wednesday morning, the two sides are now in a 44-day cooling-off period before the Nova Scotia Teacher’s Union (NSTU) can issue a 48-hour strike notice.
The NSGEU and NSTU have been negotiating almost in tandem for the better part of the past year, as the contracts offered to both unions have been very similar when it comes to wages.
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The NSTU has scheduled its strike vote with the 9,000 teachers it represents for Oct. 25.
Should the NSGEU vote down the agreement in December, it would be after any potential job action from the teachers.
— With files from Marieke Walsh, Global News