Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 27/00) - First Air's director of marketing communications, Tracy Beaman, confirmed contract negotiations between the company and a bargaining team representing 300 of its employees broke off March 13.

"It's true (negotiations broke off) but that was totally expected," said Beaman.

"Some issues are going through quite quickly and others are going to take a little longer. The feeling the company has is that the talks have been constructive and positive."

CAW national representative Serge Portelance said the unionized workers are one step away from holding a strike vote. He believes the company is preparing for the move by looking at acquiring replacement workers and sub-contractors so they can keep operating in the event of a strike.

Beaman said that's not the case.

"As for any discussions of a strike, it's something that hasn't been tabled," said Beaman.

"At this point we are not feeling the need for a contingency plan."

She would not talk about the details of negotiations or about the offer tabled for the workers.

She said the relationship between the two bargaining teams is a good one and that the company "is not expecting any difficulties" in regards to future negotiations.

On Friday, First Air's vice-president of marketing and sales, Jim Ballingall, sent out a press release supporting Beaman's comments.

"We have already reached an agreement in principle on major issues such as seniority and numerous employment conditions and begun the offer and counteroffer negotiations on monetary issues," said Ballingall in the release.

"As both sides continue this process with the intention of resolving the outstanding issues, we fully believe that we can avoid any service disruption to our customers."