Hay River (Oct 23/06) - People recovering at the NWT's only addiction treatment centre could wake up to a very quiet building on Tuesday, if support workers go on strike.

Employees at the Nats'ejee K'eh Treatment Centre will walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 24th, if a collective agreement is not reached before that point.

The 30-bed clinic is located on the Hay River Dene Reserve. It treats about 200 people per year according to executive director Melvin Larocque.

Twenty-one employees are ready to walk off the job, said Jean-Francois Des Lauriers, regional executive vice-president for the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) union. There are 24 staff members in all at the clinic, said Larocque.

"They are very determined. They will not back down," said Des Lauriers, of the employees.

The clinic's employees have been without a collective agreement for three and a half years. The last one expired in March, 2003. Negotiations have been ongoing since.

"We have exhausted all possible avenues of resolution," said Des Lauriers.

It wasn't an easy choice for the employees, said Todd Parsons, president of the Union of Northern Workers branch of PSAC.

"They are caregivers," he said, "and they provide a service at the one and only treatment centre in the NWT."

This was the reason negotiations continued on for so long without a strike, he said.

"Ethically," he said, "they did not want to strand anyone who was there for treatment, but they realized it could not go on indefinitely."

When asked, Larocque said there are presently "a few" people at the centre for treatment. He declined to give an exact number.

The union is asking for a renewal of the previous collective agreement, with a few changes, including raises in employee salary.

"Our members have not had a wage increase in four years," said Des Lauriers.

Parsons said it is hoped an agreement can be reached without resorting to a strike.

Larocque said he preferred not to comment on the situation, as he would soon be meeting with the clinic's board to decide what to do.