The Martlet

Another round of negotiations saw no resolution to the wage dispute that has closed the Student Union Building since Sept. 4.

Nearly 150 unionized workers in the SUB are rotating shifts on the picket line asking students to support their request for higher wages by not entering the building.

At negotiations the union moved off their original request for a one-year contact that would see a $1.50 raise for student-workers in the lowest pay bracket currently earning $9.95. They offered to take a two-year contact that guaranteed a $1 raise in the first year and 75 cents the second year. But, when the offer wasn’t accepted, they removed it from the table.

The employer’s highest offer was for a three-year contact with raises of 50 cents the first year and 25 cents each of the next two years for a total of $1. Previously they offered 30 cents in the first year and one per cent increases for the next two years (an equivalent of about 10 cents per year).

“It’s huge. We’ve moved a lot,” said UVic Student Society chair Caitlin Meggs, spokesperson for the employer, explaining that it’s easier to phase in a higher raise rather than offer $1 the first year.

Meggs crossed the active picket line for the first time on Tuesday to use her office. She said she had been in the SUB when the strikers weren’t outside and that it made her uncomfortable to have to cross them.

“But students are asking for things that I need to be in the office to do,” she said. “It’s a really hard position to be in.”

Bargaining Committee member Ben Johnson said he expects more negotiations this week after the strikers get together for a meeting to see if they are willing to accept less that $1.50 in order to get back to work.

Starting Sept. 26, union members will start to receive strike pay of about $150 per week from the United Steelworkers.