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Members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union have settled their contract dispute with their employer, ISM Canada, the CEP confirmed Thursday.

CEP Local 911 had voted 94 per cent in favour of strike action against ISM Canada, a subsidiary of IBM Canada, but resumed bargaining late Wednesday and reached an agreement.

CEP Local 911 represents Regina-based ISM’s administration and accounting staff and information technology professionals, including business, software and support analysts, programmers and consultants.

“With renewed effort and commitment the two parties resumed bargaining later (Wednesday) evening and were able to reach a mutually acceptable agreement,’’ the CEP said in a news release.

“It is important to note that our members have a huge stake in this company and therefore the both the union and company bargaining committees were committed to continue with the process of bargaining to settle this negotiations,” CEP National Representative Kate McKinley said.

“I am very pleased that both parties were willing to do the hard work necessary to conclude a negotiated contract settlement,’’ said Gary Schoenfeldt, president of CEP Local 911.

Schoenfeldt said the union bargaining committee will be recommending acceptance to the membership at the ratification meeting.

“The success of this negotiation was also due to the employer’s strong commitment to its employees, which they demonstrated (Wednesday) evening,” Schoenfeldt added.

In Saskatchewan, 9,000 CEP members work in a wide variety of workplaces, including Saskatchewan’s Crown corporations, the petrochemical industry, pulp and paper plants, mining, print and broadcast media, the printing and graphical sector and the hospitality industry.

This article was first published by Leaderpost: http://www.leaderpost.com/settle+contract+dispute/4882634/story.html#ixzz1OVSvPBx6