Residents in Saint John could soon feel the impacts of a strike by city workers.

Nearly 140 inside workers represented by CUPE have voted 94 per cent in favour of a strike.

The union members, who work in a wide range of city departments, saw their last contract expire in Dec. 2021.

Brittany Doyle, president of CUPE Local 486, said the two sides reached an impasse in August.

“The city is intent on enforcing a contract that falls below the cost of living and violates the city’s own wage escalation policy,” Doyle said during a news conference Friday afternoon.

That policy, approved by council in 2019, said a three-year rolling average of assessment base growth should be used in contract negotiations.

But Mike Davidson, CUPE’s national service representative, said the city is reneging on the policy after voluntarily offering it to other groups.

“City services will be disrupted if we are forced to take a strike. We do not want to go on strike, but we need to conclude this round of bargaining,” said Davidson.

Union members work in police/fire/911 dispatch, customer service, bylaw enforcement, permitting, recreation, court services, financial services, administrative support, IT and technical roles.

City managers have been preparing for potential strike action, he said, such as training people to take over dispatching services at the Public Safety Communications Centre.

Davidson said Friday afternoon that strike action could happen within 24 hours, but he said they first want to give the city another chance to come back to the bargaining table.

“We’re hoping the city will realize this is a significant number of their workforce that is dissatisfied,” he said.

Doyle said many of their members have been struggling to make ends meet, with one in five being forced to take on a second job.

The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon regarding the union’s strike vote.

But in a statement last Friday, the city said it was committed to reaching an agreement “that reflects our commitment to financial sustainability and enables us to continue working together to deliver quality services.”

“We have a fair and reasonable offer on the table, and we believe it is in the best interests of everyone to finalize an agreement,” said the statement.

“We are optimistic an agreement can be reached, but we are also taking prudent steps to have contingency plans ready to minimize the disruption to public services should a labour disruption occur.”