7,600 NSGEU members start voting on long-delayed contract offer

Thousands of public sector workers are voting on a contract offer from the government that their union hopes they reject.

READ MORE: NSGEU set to vote on long-delayed contract for 7,600 civil servants

Civil servants with the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union will have three days to vote on the contract. The union says the results will be released Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m hoping my members vote no and I believe they are going to vote no,” NSGEU President Jason MacLean said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I'm hoping my members vote no and I believe they are going to vote no," NSGEU President Jason MacLean said.

The bargaining unit includes deputy sheriffs, biologists, fisheries technicians, engineers, and several others.

In November of last year the union recommended members accept the tentative agreement. But after teachers rejected a similar agreement and the government passed wage legislation, the NSGEU reversed its recommendation.

The government was hoping to set a wage pattern last year with the teachers, but the Nova Scotia Teachers Union instead rejected two consecutive offers and many other talks are stalled.

READ MORE: NSGEU delaying civil service contract vote, again

On Thursday, Finance Minister Randy Delorey said he looked “forward” to the vote but wouldn’t speculate on the government’s response to a “No” vote.

The contract includes two years of wage freezes followed by a three per cent wage increase over the final two years. It also ends the long service award retroactive to April 2015, but pays it out based on a person’s salary at retirement.

Long service award the sticking point: NSGEU

Keeping the long service award is a deal breaker for civil servants, according to MacLean. He said he asked the government to return to negotiations instead of forcing a vote on the current deal but it refused.

Calling the award a “deferred payment” MacLean said previous civil servants gave up wage increases in order to get the long service award.

“That is something where people already ate it up and didn’t take a raise a long time ago,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "That is something where people already ate it up and didn't take a raise a long time ago," he said.

READ MORE: NSGEU vote on agreement with province delayed until at least March

However, the government has already accounted for the expected savings in last April’s budget and hasn’t signalled a willingness to soften its stance. Delorey said the government needs to “really get ahold on (its) finances” in order to continue investing in other services.

MacLean said he believes civil servants would accept a wage freeze if they could keep the long service award.