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Moore said her endorsement by the union leadership was no different than the endorsement of incumbent Don Atchison by the firefighters’ union or an endorsement fellow mayoral candidate Charlie Clark has received from a union.

She said she’s not concerned it will look like she is siding with the union in the labour dispute, which has been stalled mainly over proposed changes to the workers’ pensions.

“I could see how poorly mismanaged the whole lockout has been and the fact that it took four years to get to this point — an entire term without a resolution,” Moore said in an interview on Monday.

The ATU local 615 Twitter account began to target Atchison and Clark in posts on Monday.

Atchison and Clark were both on council when the City of Saskatoon locked out transit union employees in 2014. A judge later ruled the lockout illegal, citing a decision involving the union — unrelated to the labour dispute — before the provincial labour board.

The labour strife was a topic of discussion during a Monday radio debate on CBC and again at a student forum at the University of Saskatchewan.

“We’ve done everything but get the pension plan dealt with. Kelley Moore is right in bed with the union now, saying she’ll give them anything they want,” Atchison said on CBC.

“I’m sorry, but that’s just not the way you do business.”

Clark called the transit lockout one of his regrets from his time on city council. He said council made a rushed decision.

“There was a lot of pressure with other unions to try and get a resolution, that there could be a quicker resolution and, instead, it escalated the situation,” he said.

Mayoral candidate Devon Hein said the issue “needs to be resolved within 72 hours of the next council transitioning into power.”

— With files from Dave Deibert

ptank@postmedia.com

twitter.com/thinktankSK