Charlottetown Canadian Blood Services workers reject contract offer

Eight part-time Canadian Blood Services workers in Charlottetown, who have been on strike since early September, have voted to reject a new contract offer.

The contract offer came out of meetings with a mediator last week.

In a news release, the Nova Scotia Union of Public and Private Employees said the contract offer did not include a key demand from the union: guaranteed hours for the employees to ensure that they would be eligible for benefits.

Union local 19 president Tanya Herrell said Canadian Blood Services would only guarantee hours for seven months. The union was also upset that the terms of the contract would not include a return to work until Aug. 8.

"Our main fight has always been guarantee of hours, some sort of a guarantee of hours, so, stability," said Herrell.

"It's very discouraging. We were hopeful that the mediation would have resolved things."

Herrell said the union was willing to accept a reduction in the number of positions included in the offer.

The union said the offer was rejected unanimously, and it has sent back a counter proposal.

In an email response to CBC News, Canadian Blood Services said it would not discuss the specifics of its offer. It said there were significant revisions in the proposal and the company is disappointed an agreement to end the strike was not reached.