Yellowknife (May 03/06) - The ongoing labour dispute at the Ekati diamond mine will not only hurt striking workers financially, but other businesses as well.

That's what picketers said as they marched through Yellowknife last Thursday.

"Every single thing you go to purchase, you have to think twice before you do it," said striker Colin Bovokovay, who has worked at the BHP Billiton mine for six and a half years.

"The longer the strike draws on, the greater economic impact it has," said Todd Parsons, president of the Union of Northern Workers, which represents the striking workers. "There are less dollars to spend in the community which, in turn, will affect the grocery stores, retail stores and purchasing fuel," said Parsons.

On a larger scale, Parsons said fairness, respect, equity and dignity are being lost, the four principles the union said it is fighting for.

"We think it's time for BHP Billiton to come to the table and recognize a workforce that is very much entitled to (those principles)," Parsons said.

To demonstrate their point, almost 100 workers and union representatives carried four black coffins, labelled with each principle the union stands for, from 47th St. down Franklin Ave. to the front of the Precambrian Building where Parsons delivered a brief speech.

Across the street, two men described by a striker as BHP security filmed the rally.

"We're demonstrating that bargaining is dead and we think it is time to revive that," Parsons said.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) was also on hand to lend its support to the strikers.

PSAC employee Kevin Giroux said as an aboriginal person, he feels he is being treated unfairly as well.

"BHP came up here. We allowed them to do their mining."

"It affects me, my family and friends," Giroux said.

Community spirit is also being affected because of the strike, Parsons said.

"Union members are striking. That's carded into our social environment."

The strike began April 7 after negotiations with the employer broke down. Since then, some union workers have returned to the mine.

The exact number of workers on strike is not known.