Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Inuvik (May 06/01) - The union representing NorthwesTel workers is misrepresenting the company's position on northern living allowances, said a NorthwesTel spokesperson.

In a press release issued last Thursday, International Union of Electrical Workers Local 1574 stated the telecommunications company "claims that the cost of living in the North is no different from living in the south."

"That's definitely not a claim we're making," said NorthwesTel's Anne Kennedy Grainger.

Kennedy Grainger said the company pays Northern allowances to employees working in most Northern communities, with the exception of Whitehorse.

Based on the conclusions of a survey carried out by a southern consulting firm, the company stopped offering the $3,400 annual allowance to employees hired in Whitehorse after February 2001. Employees who began working in the Yukon capital before that time still collect the allowance.

Union leader Ernest Ness said the study was prepared by "a company that's never been north of Vancouver, I'm sure."

The clock is ticking down on a labour dispute between the company and its 380 unionized workers.

An attempt to conciliate a contract settlement between the phone company and the union, which represents the workers, ended last Thursday.

The union can legally go on strike as soon as May 24 with 72 hours notice.

"Nobody wants a strike, we certainly don't," said Ness. "We're always hopeful, but right now it doesn't appear anybody's listening."

Kennedy Grainger refused to say whether or not the company will present a new offer before the strike deadline.

The only outstanding issue in the negotiation is wages. Claiming its membership has suffered cutbacks in benefits and minimal wage increases over the last decade, the union wants 5, 6 and 7 per cent wage increases in the next three years.

The company has offered a three per cent increase the first year and 3.5 per cent increases in each of the next two, plus a potential bonus (based on performance) of 1.5 per cent per year.

NorthwesTel provides phone and Internet service to the three territories and Northern British Columbia.

The current collective agreement covering the operators and technical and clerical workers expired last December.