Kent Driscoll
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Sep 26/05) - The Federation of Nunavut Teachers has been without a contract since June, but federation president Jimmy Jacquard isn't pushing the strike button, yet.

Federation representatives and the government are scheduled to get back to the table in October.

"The contract expired June 30, 2005, but it's difficult to get people together," said Jacquard.

He characterized the negotiations as "friendly."

The general themes being discussed, according to Jacquard, are "wages, benefits and some non-monetary issues."

"We won't be releasing anything until we have a deal ready to take to our members," he said.

Housing benefits cannot be negotiated by any of the government unions, due to legislation inherited from the Northwest Territories. The new staff housing regulations are still hanging over the upcoming negotiations.

The federation is conducting a survey of its members, to see who is living where and what the conditions are like, who owns a home, who is in government housing and how much they pay.

"We can't negotiate it (housing), but it does affect whether we would ratify a deal," said Jacquard.

"It's also significant because we have a lot of teachers in substandard housing, buildings that haven't been updated over the years," added Jacquard.

There has never been a teacher's strike in Nunavut, and Jacquard would like to see that record continue.

"We do have the right to strike (but) it's not something that we want to entertain," said Jacquard.