Striking workers who have lined the Fourth Avenue-Hawkins Street intersection over the last nearly three months will be heading back to work after they ratified an agreement with their employer Tuesday afternoon.

Many Rivers Counselling and Support Services workers will see, among other things, a seven per cent increase in their base salary over the five years the pact covers.

A release explaining that a tentative agreement had been reached was circulated around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, just hours before the vote was held.

The ratification was announced shortly before 2 p.m.

The Yukon Employees’ Union (YEU), which represents the workers, said it was a long time coming after negotiations ramped back up again last weekend.

“We started back at the negotiating table, so to speak, last Thursday,” YEU president Steve Geick told the Star Tuesday afternoon. The agreement hasn’t come without its toll, he added.

According to the release, the union’s bargaining team was in talks into the early-morning hours of Tuesday to get that tentative pact.

A meeting of the membership and vote Tuesday afternoon resulted in most of the workers signing off on it.

“Most workers are happy with this; it’s a very emotional time, being out on the picket lines,” Geick said.

Temperatures sank into the -30s C earlier this month.

It’s estimated there are fewer than 20 workers impacted by the strike, throughout Many Rivers offices in Whitehorse, Dawson City, Watson Lake and Haines Junction.

The return to work will be a gradual one, with the plan to fully open the doors to clients by around the first week of February.

“It’s going to take some time,” Geick said.

Administrative staff are likely to begin going back into work, who will then be followed by councillors.

That’s before a session will be held with the employer for about two days, Geick added. That will ensure everybody is on the same page about things like “return to work protocols.”

The agreement will cover five years, with the release laying out some of the requests from the workers, which the president echoed as well.

Some were previously mentioned in a Dec. 18 briefing held by the union and some Many Rivers workers.

“The employee demands were focused on improved access to EAP services for themselves, flexibility to respond to client scheduling needs, and the ability to meet with specialist clinical supervisors during their working hours,” the release said.

All these were met – along with that seven per cent increase.

The union did not share what this increase means in exact dollar figures or ranges going forward.

However, Deborah Turner-Davis, a spokesperson, directed the Star to figures as laid out in the old agreement, which is available on its webpage.

According to that document, the annual rates of pay for administrative staff ranged from $43,600 to $51,758 between the time period of April 2014 to April 2016 (depending on level classification).

For office managers, it sat at between $55,607 and $66,275; counsellors and those with a bachelors degree and co-ordinators received between $61,387 and $73,265; and counsellors and those with a masters or doctorate earned between $64,669 and $77,238.

Meanwhile, office co-ordinators were paid between $53,242 and $63,418 and data entry staff earned between $41,093 and $48,719 annually.

All figures vary depending on the level classification and are also effective between April 2014 and April 2016.

Turner-Davis confirmed this morning that the seven per cent increase in base salary over the five years is to be applied to the figures mentioned above.

Because that old agreement expired in 2016, the newer one reached Tuesday is already two years old, she added.

Meanwhile, Geick continued to be impressed by what he called the strength of the small group and determination of sticking together to not settle.

“It’s been quite a ride,” he said, noting that the strike is one of the longer ones he can recall throughout his many years in the labour movement.

Workers had been on strike for 80 days since they headed to the picket line on Nov. 2.

And while it may have taken some time, Geick is happy with the result of the negotiations.

“Our priorities have always been things that will allow counsellors to give better client services.”

Meanwhile, that December briefing also stressed the importance of having leadership within the organization be closer to home.

Financial accountability from management and the board was another. That may be a significant point, given that has at least in part landed the organization in hot water with the territorial government.

As the Star confirmed Tuesday, the group is still under investigation by the territory’s registrar for being listed as in non-compliance with the Societies Act.

The government did not receive financial statements and annual reporting documents as needed by July 2018, Community Services Minister John Streicker confirmed late last year.

Once that happens, funding is cut by the territorial government – which provided the group with just over $2 million in 2018.

That was via an agreement that also pitched in a similar number the year before, and something that sat at $1.9 million in 2016, as annual reports listed on the group’s webpage show.

A report from that registrar’s investigation and next steps is expected in early February.

Doors to the free-of-charge services are expected to open Feb. 7 after the group does its phasing-in of workers as they return to the sites.

No one from Many Rivers’ management – which has refused to discuss the dispute since it began – was available to comment on the settlement.