Yellowknife (Apr 29/05) - A union representing workers at the Jackfish power plant is crying foul after word broke this week that lay-offs are on the horizon.

NWT Power Corporation officials won't say how many of the plant's four remaining operators will be laid off or when, but their date with the chopping block is imminent.

Randy Patrick: Plant operator jobs becoming obsolete as less diesel power used.

Todd Parsons, president of the Union of Northern Workers, said workers at the plant are on pins and needles while awaiting word on who will get cut, although they can apply for jobs in other sectors of the corporation.

"They're really tormenting employees when they say, 'go ahead apply on a job, we don't know how many we're going to get rid of, but if you want a job apply on it,'" said Parsons.

Most of the plant operators have been working at the plant for several years.

Parsons said Power Corporation has a poor track record on employee morale, and the uncertainty only makes it worse.

"Not just for the plant operators, for all the employees of the power corporation in the manner that they are handling this," said Parsons.

But Randy Patrick, the North Slave regional director for the power corporation, said they have little choice in the lay-offs.

He said the plant operator jobs are becoming obsolete because Yellowknife is relying less and less on diesel power.

Patrick said he expects diesel from the plant to generate less than two per cent of the city's electrical needs this year, with the rest coming from hydro power via the Cascades, Bluefish and Snare dams.

He said the need for diesel power dropped sharply after the closure of Giant and Con Mines.

"It's our job to maintain reasonable costs for customers and we do," said Patrick.

"We trying to do what's environmentally sensitive and all those things, but still there's people involved. It's always hard."

He said a plant operator's salary, including overtime and benefits, has averaged about $100,000 a year.

Patrick said the plant will be going on standby, and will likely only be used to generate power during emergencies.

During the plant's peak in the 1990s, there were 10 operators working there.

That number has steadily declined since 2000.

Last year, only weeks after management cut night time hours for plant operators, Jackfish experienced a spill overnight that dumped 13,000 litres of diesel into the surrounding soil.

Blamed the spill

A worker at the plant blamed the spill on the decision to reduce their hours.

Patrick said he is confident remaining staff and a security detail on the site will keep mishaps to a minimum.

"We've got monitoring systems in place, we've got someone 24-hours at the plant in the control room and we've got a company that goes through and checks the plant," said Patrick.

"Between all of those things we believe that's reasonably covered."