Unifor union members are saying they plan to return to the workplace Tuesday under work-to-rule conditions.

A strike by 5,000 unionized Crown Corporation employees from across the province began Friday and continued Monday, with employees from SaskEnergy, SaskPower, SaskTel, SecurTek, Direct West, SaskWater and the Water Security Agency. Picket lines in Regina and Saskatoon at the SaskTel call centres forced the Crown company to close their doors where their management team was attempting to maintain services.

Dave Kuntz, president of Unifor Local 1S, said Monday afternoon in an interview with Discover Weyburn that while they plan to go back to work, they are going to continue to escalate.

"We are going to being doing work-to-rule, so it's considered job action not 'on strike'," explained Kuntz. "So, work to rule is what we did starting on day one on September 30th for four days...so that's bans on overtime and things of that nature."

He said the union members want to show the companies they are serious.

"We have the ability to move our forces around and to do things that they are not expecting and we will continue that until they are ready to negotiate and hopefully they will pass that message up to (Premier) Scott Moe who is controlling negotiations right now with the money side of things."

The biggest sticking point for the union is a cost of living pay increase in the new contract.

SaskTel issued a statement late Monday afternoon stating they will not be allowing employees who are members of Unifor to return to work in the absence of a concluded collective agreement. The company stated they are considering applying for an injunction to stop Unifor's "illegal labour disruption activities", such as preventing non-union employees from reporting to work at the SaskTel Contact Centres.