N.W.T. gov't, public sector union ratify new collective agreement
More than 6,000 public sector workers in the Northwest Territories now have a new collective agreement.
Both the Union of Northern Workers and the Northwest Territories government ratified the new agreement last week.
The new three-year agreement is backdated to April 2023 and expires in March 2026. Workers will get a six per cent raise backdated to April 2023, a 2.25 per cent raise backdated to April 2024 and an additional 2.25 per cent raise starting in 2025.
The new collective agreement also gives Indigenous employees up to four days of paid cultural leave a year, and contains new recruitment and retention initiatives for healthcare staff in the territory, according to a Friday news release from the N.W.T. government.
According the news release, workers can expect to see the new salary increases on their paychecks starting in November.
Retroactive wages will be "actioned" in December, the news release said.