Merci, Monsieur le President. I am very mindful of the words that you offered at the beginning of this sitting about being careful how we are choosing our questions, and I do believe in collective bargaining, but there has been an event this afternoon that I need to ask some questions of the other side about. There was a news release put out earlier this afternoon about a strike notice being issued by the Union of Northern Workers, and I would like to ask which bargaining units have provided strike notice to our government. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, Mr. Speaker. I meant to ask that question of the Minister, and I just want, for information purposes, whether our government has actually received strike notice from which units from Union of Northern Workers. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister of Finance.
Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we received a strike notice from the UNW, which represents government employees. Thank you.
I would like to then ask the Minister of Finance whether we have received strike notice from UNW on behalf of the Northwest Territories Power Corporation workers and the workers with the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority.
We have not received anything from NTPC, the workers at NTPC, and my understanding is that the Hay River Health and Social Services were having their vote. They may have had it yesterday, and we are just waiting for the results of that vote.
I would like to thank the Minister for that. Can the Minister tell us whether there are essential services agreements in place for the three bargaining units that I mentioned earlier?
Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
Merci, Monsieur le President. I would like to know from the Minister of Finance what the next steps are in terms of negotiations with the unions representing our employees and what sort of assurance he can give us that we are going to reach an agreement. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
As I said earlier, I think, responding to questions earlier, we have mediation coming up with the UNW on Friday. We are hoping to reach an agreement with them, and we will see what happens after that. As far as the other tables go, again, we are waiting to hear from Hay River Health and Social Services, and we are also looking to continue our talks with NTPC.
A strike is not something that anybody wants, and it is not something that the people of the Northwest Territories want, especially the employees. We feel that we have been very fair in our discussions with UNW. Again, that remains to be seen. We will have a better idea after the mediation this weekend to see what type of position that we are in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
