Janet Smellie
Northern News Services

Yellowknife ( Mar 03/00) - A Yellowknife mother who started a hunger strike in support of the pensioners from the bankrupt Giant mine Tuesday has federal politicians scrambling to address her concerns.

Mary Kosta, whose unemployed husband worked at the mine for 16 years, started her fast Tuesday.

Kosta is going without food on behalf of several Giant mine pensioners, who, on April 1, are set to lose at least 25 per cent of their pensions. Workers got the news of the cuts two weeks ago. As well as an immediate 25 per cent cut to 59 workers, this reduction will also affect all workers at the mine when they retire.

Kosta is also appealing to Ottawa for compensation for the 300 laid-off workers who have yet to receive a severance package since being laid off last October.

"This isn't about Yellowknife and a few workers. This applies to everyone in Canada that goes to work. It's too bad it takes a bunch of old men and a mother to raise the issue," Kosta said.

Kosta said because the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) knew the pension fund was underfunded -- they helped facilitate the sale of the mine to Miramar -- they should provide compensation.

Several pensioners have also agreed that if Ottawa doesn't respond to Kosta's actions "in a reasonable time," all pensioners will join her in a hunger strike.

"I hope the Canadian public will realize what's happening here. I feel very much that Yellowknife is becoming a Third World country," Kosta says, adding that it's become clear that government needs to seriously consider changes to bankruptcy and labour laws to provide protection to workers in similar situations.

"I sympathize with her. It's clearly her choice," Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew said Wednesday of Kosta's protest.

"We're trying to address this. We're pulling in other people like the Minister of Labour. The hunger strike isn't driving us in a corner, we're already there."

Blondin-Andrew said she's also urging the workers to write to the Standing Committee of Labour to make their case.

"We can provide them with the appropriate venue so they can appear and talk about these important issues."

Buzz Hargrove, national president of the Canadian Autoworkers, said while Blondin-Andrew's suggestion of national action on the whole issue of workers' rights is a good one, the immediate focus should be on these workers.

"The immediate problem is with the (CAW) members in Yellowknife. The minister of Indian Affairs has to deal with this now. There's very little options for people to supplement their income in Northern communities -- the cost of living is so high -- this really demands that government step in and support these people," Hargrove said.

"They (DIAND) are the ones that handed over hundreds of millions of dollars to support Peggy Witte, who clearly showed she didn't know what the hell she was doing."

In the meantime, Kosta is on her third day of fasting and hopes to have a response soon.

"I don't want these pensioners going on a hunger strike, most of them have health concerns ... we don't want any deaths out of this. All we want is what was secured for these workers under their collective agreement."

Dave Nutter, DIAND's special advisor of the Royal Oak team told Yellowknifer Thursday that his office had been in regular contact with the CAW local in Yellowknife.

"It's premature to talk about (any financial compensation), but we are internally looking at a number of options."

"As far as resolving this we only hope we can come up with a solution."