Yellowknife, N.W.T. - The president of the Union of Northern Workers seems to be happy with the tentative deal reached April 13th between his side and the GNWT.

The proposed deal is a four-year pact which will see pay increases for territorial public service employees from one per cent to 3.3 per cent over the course of the deal, which still has to be ratified by both sides.

Todd Parsons said the union asked the GNWT to the bargaining table one last time last week and they were able to get the remaining issues finalized.

"What I was pleased with willingness by the parties to sit down and that commitment to try to address the outstanding issues,” said Parsons, “we were successful on many of the outstanding issues making positive gains for our membership."

Parsons said the union will be traveling around the territory and will be recommending unanimous ratification of the deal.

"We'll be moving forth over the course of the next four to six weeks to go out and meet first hand with our membership, in their communities in many cases; present the tentative offer to them; and ask them to support the bargaining team's recommendation," said Parsons.

If the deal is ratified, it will be retroactively official as of April 1. 

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