Yellowknife (Nov 26/99) - The Canadian Autoworkers (CAW) Union is appealing after losing a Nov. 11 bid in Supreme Court to get former Giant workers their full pension money and severance pay.

CAW Local 2304 president Marc Danis said the pension issue is going to be the main focus of the appeal.

That's because in April, receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) applied to the courts asking that they not be required to pay into the pension fund while they operated Giant mine. They were successful and as a result the pension, which was already underfunded by the bankrupt owners Royal Oak Mines Inc., was reduced further.

"We have a collective agreement that says they owe us. In court we're saying whoever ends up buying Giant mine is going to have to top up that pension," said Danis.

He also said that Giant mine's Human Resource Department confirmed that the receivers were still taking the regular pension contribution of $40,000 out each month.

"We know that the money was still being taken out by the receivers every month for the pension fund and we don't know where that money went," said Danis.

"We're focusing on the pension issue, and the rest of the stuff is kind of just thrown into the mix."

Ontario Supreme Court Justice James Farley also ruled against a GNWT argument that the government -- and therefore the workers -- were entitled to 12 weeks notice of any layoffs, as stated in the NWT Labour Standards Act.

GNWT Minister of Justice Stephen Kakfwi said they have also instructed their lawyers to file a notice of appeal.

"We are keeping our options open by having our lawyers file a notice to appeal," said Kakfwi.

"We have instructed (the lawyers) to provide an in-depth legal analysis and opinion of the issues in this case and then we will decide whether to appeal after reviewing that advice."

The government is questioning whether Judge Farley properly considered provisions within the Labour Standards Act when he made his ruling.

Kakfwi said the decision whether to pursue the appeal will be made in the next seven to 10 days.

"We are concerned that our legislation be respected and upheld," said Kakfwi.

"We do not want to raise any false hopes because, at this point, we are not confident that any appeal would result in former Royal Oak employees receiving any compensation."