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Tuesday April 28 2015 9 POLITICS MUNICIPAL Congratulations on your hard work and achievements With all good wishes for a very happy and successful future in your chosen fieldsyour chosen fields George Tuccaro Commissioner of the NWT AURORA COLLEGE CLASS OF 2015 The South Slave Divisional Education Council would like to congratulate all the Aurora College graduates on their achievement and wish them the best as they pursue their careers. The South Slave Divisional Education Council would like to congratulate all the Aurora College graduates on their achievement and wish them the best as they pursue their careers. www.facebook.comSouthSlaveDECwww.facebook.comSouthSlaveDEC Creating Futures Fort Smith is proud to be part of the education centre of the NWT. The Town of Fort Smith Congratulates the Aurora College Graduating Class of 2015 Good luck to all of you By MEAGAN WOHLBERG A bitter labour dispute in Hay River could come to an end this week if town council agrees to the unions proposal for binding third-party arbitration to solve the strike thats kept residents locked out of their rec- reational facilities for 10 weeks. Union representatives contacted the Town of Hay River on Thursday expressing their desire to approach a neutral third party to decide on a nal agreement for the more than 30 employees who have been picket- ing since Feb. 6. Third party arbitration will allow workers to return to work as soon as possible remove Union asks for third-party arbitration to end Hay River strike all pressures from the community and begin to rebuild a harmonious relationship between the town and its employees stated the letter addressed to Mayor Andrew Cassidy. Towncouncilwassettodiscusstheproposal during an in-camera session Monday evening after press time for this issue of The Journal. If the town agrees to enter the process the arbitrator will then set the terms of a new three-year collective agreement for the work- ers. Whatever decision is reached through the arbitration process will be binding for both parties. The town says it wants an end to the strike so do we and this is the sure way to do it Union of Northern Workers president Todd Parsons said in a press release Thursday af- ternoon. The only outstanding issues are the wage increase and applying that increase to the housing allowance. Lets have an arbitra- tor settle that. A third attempt at negotiations failed last Monday after the town rejected the unions nal offer which asked for a 2 per cent an- nual wage increase over three years plus a 500 signing bonus to each employee. The town had come up to a 1.5 per cent annual salary bump for the workers earlier that morning when Cassidy said they were handed the unions bottom line. According to the union tensions had risen afterworkersheardthatthreepositionsmaybe cut following the strike. Neither the town nor unionwouldconrmanypositionswillbeletgo. Since the strike began the town has stuck to its original offer of a 1 per cent annual in- crease while workers had been asking for a 2.5 per cent raise in the rst year followed by a 2.25 per cent raise over the last two years of the three-year contract plus additions to their travel and housing allowances. The strike kept recreational facilities closed all winter cancelling hockey gure skating and some curling events and has impacted the rst half of swim season. PhotoscourtesyofPSAC-North Striking workers burn a letter from the town asking them to end the strike and come back to work after talks failed for a second time in March. Approximately 30 municipal employees in Hay River have been on strike since Feb. 6.