‘It’s disgraceful’: Labour dispute involving Sask. hotel workers has now lasted more than 600 days

WATCH: Former premier Lorne Calvert is calling for the government to intervene in a hotel strike affecting Moose Jaw and Saskatoon hotels. Wayne Mantyka explain

There is a new contract offer in one of Saskatchewan’s longest labour disputes. Workers at Heritage Inn Hotels in Moose Jaw and Saskatoon have been locked out for more than 600 days.

Workers will soon vote on the latest offer – but their union is not recommending acceptance.

The picket line in front of the Moose Jaw Heritage Inn is a site Michelle Kettlewall knows well – it’s a route she’s walked for nearly two years.

“We’ve been out here for two winters, right? And you know a lot of people just want to get back in to work,” she told CTV News.

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The lockout at Heritage Inn hotels in Moose Jaw and Saskatoon has now lasted 628 days. The union says it recently received a new contract offer from management, the first since November of 2023.

“We have received an offer from the employer on Friday. The offer contains some increases to wages, but it still contains changes to the language that were the same changes that they had before,” UFCW Local 1400 President Lucy Figueiredo explained.

Last week, former Premier Lorne Calvert expressed concern about the length of the lockout as he delivered the Leeson lecture in Regina.

“Oh, I just think it’s disgraceful and the provincial government ought to turn its attention to try and bring these parties together, get these people back to work,” he told CTV News.

It’s a sentiment Figueiredo and the union share.

“So, I think there’s lots of opportunities for the government to have been involved in the last twenty months and they just haven’t,” she added.

In a statement to CTV News late Tuesday afternoon, the provincial government did comment on the dispute, saying:

“We would encourage the union and employer to return to the bargaining table. Our government believes that the best agreements are those that are created through bargaining.”

The union is not satisfied with the management’s new offer.

However, it will be put to a vote so that the locked-out workers can decide whether it is sufficient to end this lengthy labour dispute.

CTV News did reach out to the management of Heritage Inn but did not receive a respond prior to publishing.