Members of the Yukon Employees Union have ratified a new three-year collective agreement that includes a five-per-cent wage increase over the life of the contract.

Union president Steve Geick said this morning the union does not publicize the number of employees who voted, nor what percentage voted in favour; only that the majority approved the package.

Voting took place last week.

The collective agreement for the 3,750 employees covered by the agreement is retroactive to last Jan. 1.

The new agreement calls for a two per cent increase this year following by a 1.5 per cent boost in both 2017 and 2018.

The previous collective agreement to Dec. 31, 2015 provided a 5.75 per cent increase over three years.

“We achieved most of the priorities that were given to us by the membership,” Geick said.

He pointed out, for instance, that community nursing was identified as a top priority, particularly for the communities of Destruction Bay and Beaver Creek, where there’s only one nurse working at the community nursing station.

As a result of the agreement, both communities will have two nurses during the high traffic season from April to October, he explained.

Geick said from October to April, there will be one nurse in each community plus a third sharing time between the two communities.

“That will allow them to do more public health, health promotion and have time for more prevention work in the communities,” he said.

Geick said the agreement addresses psychological health and respect in the workplace, as well as special leave and severance pay.

Matters addressed in the agreement also include increasing the allowance for visual care to $300 annually, and increasing the annual boot allowance from $150 to $175.

Nigel Allan of the Yukon government’s Public Service Commission said today there are approximately 634 government employees not covered by the collective agreement, as well as some 154 casual employees or personnel working under contract.

The 882 teachers employed by the government have their own collective agreement, he noted.

The 510 employees of the Yukon Hospital Corp. are not covered by the agreement either.

The pay range for unionized employees goes from $44,839 annually to $130,659, Allan said.

He said union employees can expect to see the two-per-cent increase for 2016 on their paycheques some time next month with a lump sum, retroactive payment coming around mid-September.

The territorial cabinet approved the agreement in May.

Acceptance was being recommended by the union’s negotiating team.

Before union members were eligible to vote, they would have had to attend one of the information meetings hosted by the union.

Allan said the same wage increases will be given to the 194 employees who are not covered by the collective agreement because they are in the confidential exclusion category.

Management board sets wage increases for the 440 management staff on a yearly basis, but generally, the boost reflects what’s been agreed to in the collective agreement, but not always, he said.

Allan said wage increases for 2016 under the new agreement amount to $5.5 million.