Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Michael McLeod named as candidate for NWT Liberals A landslide 71 per cent of party members who cast their ballots vote in favour of the former Dehcho MLA during last weeks election. See page 2. Western Canada Summer Games kick off in Wood Buffalo With 164 athletes in 11 events Team NWT arrives in Alberta to face off against the best in the West. See page 15. BOREAL GUARDIANS AT DECHINTA Students start leadership program in the bush. See page 6. Dead North alumni gets screening at Fantasia lm festival TicketstoNorthernlmmaker KirstenCarthewsshortsci-fi horror flick sell out to audi- ences at the prestigious inter- national affair in Montreal. See page 11. NWT re crew heads South to lend a helping hand Twelve ENR members head to Oregon to battle res the rst time the territory was able to send out staff dur- ing a re season since 2012. See page 7. V IS IT W W W .N O R J.C A A national award winning independent newspaper serving northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories since 1977 1.00 August 11 2015 Vol. 39 No. 15 By DALI CARMICHAEL There was a low temperature of -27C when Hay River town em- ployees started striking to include wages in their new collective agree- ment on Feb. 9. One hundred and seventy-eight days later following a town council meeting on Aug. 5 both the union and the municipality ratied a new collective agreement effectively ending the strike. The tempera- ture reached a high of 23C that day. The new three-year agreement - which replaces a deal that expired on Dec. 31 2013 - provides for wage increases of 2 per cent in 2014 and 2015 and 1.75 per cent in 2016. It expires on Dec. 21 2016. Were all happy that its over. Its been an awful long haul were ecstatic that we can nally come to an agreement with council said Kim Tybring one of the bargain- ing members. The town agreed to a nal round of negotiations after considering hiring contracted labour other- wise known as scabs in early July. Hay River strike comes to an end after almost six months split on that decision half of them said yes go ahead with it and half of them said not at this time were not willing to subject the community to that much turmoil said Hay River MayorAndrewCassidy.Weagreed ok lets try one more time to end it throughourownmeansthroughne- gotiations and see where that goes. In order to end the disagreement Cassidy said the town also had to original offer was he said. We re- alized we needed to get people back to work so we decided that wed have to take the high road and have to move to end it. Two councillors Mike Maher and and Jason Coakwell voted against theraticationofthenewagreement but lost to their fellow councillors. Employees backed by the Public Service Alliance of Canada North PSAC and the Union of North- ern Workers UNW voted in fa- vour of ratifying the agreement on July 31. It was a question of just being able to compromise. As long as the town was willing to come up a little bit more the employees were willing to come down and meet them in the middle some place and thats what happened said PSACs regional executive vice president Jack Bourassa. For the members it was just a question of wages thats what they went out for and they decided to stick to their initial demands in regards to economic increases. Its not ex- actly what they were looking for but it is close enough. This employer used every harsh tactic to break the union even in- cluding replacement workers said UWN president Todd Parsons in a press release. Our members stood up to the assault remained strong and united and won a fair settlement. See Working to Bring on page 3. Wewerereviewingtheproposals that came in for the services that we were looking at contracting out and Iguessthatwaswhenwecameupon the fundamental question - did we want to do this to the community wasthisthedirectionwefeltwasthe most appropriate Council was very realize just how staunch the employ- ees were in their position on wages. When the union turned down 1.7 per cent increases three weeks ago we realized that they were not interested in coming back to work for anything less than two per cent which was more or less what their Were all happy that its over. Its been an awful long haul were ecstatic that we can nally come to an agreement with council. Kim Tybring Hunter left and Karmel Deneyoua explore the kids area with their mom Daniela during the festivities at this weekends Gateway Jamboree in Enterprise on Aug. 8. A mix of country folk and rock and roll music lled the air as the community came together for its annual summertime festival. Check out photos from the day of fun on page 8. PhotoPaulBannister