End Nears For Wood Buffalo Housing Employee Lockout

It doesn’t look like there will be a happy ending for employees of Wood Buffalo Housing.

The organization sat down with CUPE 1505 over the weekend, along with a mediator – hoping to end the lockout which was triggered by WBH looking to replace 25 workers with fly-by-night contractors.

Since May, CUPE has been fighting to keep the jobs of all the employees.

At the meeting, which trailed into the weekend’s early morning hours, CUPE 1505 President Judy Collier says the mediator made recommendations for both sides to consider.

She tells Mix News while an agreement has not officially been reached – they are likely to support the mediator’s recommendation.

“We’ll take that recommendation to our members; they will vote on it and CUPE 1505 will support whatever decision they make. I think it’s the best deal we can possibly get.”

Collier could not get into specifics of the recommendation but says while it is not a complete agreement – it is a solid middle ground.

She says she’s hopeful members take the recommendation into consideration.

“I want to thank the public and all the union members across Fort McMurray that have been supportive of us while we went through this difficult time. It’s been really rough for our members and we appreciate the support we received.”

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