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SaskTel’s 3,000 unionized workers could be giving strike notice by the end of the week, as what looks like a do-or-die round of bargaining begins Wednesday in Regina.

Chris Macdonald, assistant to the national president of Unifor, said talks are coming down to the wire. He warned of a massive strike that could disrupt services across the Crown sector.

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“We’ll have seven Crowns that are all in a legal strike position by the end of this week,” said Macdonald.

Three days have been set aside for bargaining. Macdonald expects to know by Thursday whether a deal is possible. Friday will be the last day to provide strike notice, as it comes 60 days from a July vote in favour of a strike mandate.

“We have to give notice of job action this week if we don’t reach a deal,” said Macdonald. “So we’ll do that.”

He said he’s reached out to the government and had “no success” in getting concessions sufficient for a deal. The major sticking point is over wages, with SaskTel pushing two years of flat wages followed by slim hikes. Unifor calls it a government “mandate.”