‘Ripple effects:’ Yellowknife sporting clubs on time out during labour dispute

YELLOWKNIFE –

Some sporting golf equipment within the Northwest Territories capital are on the sidelines as a labour dispute between the town and its unionized workers nears the tip of its fourth week.

“There’s been a lot of ripple effects,” mentioned Bridget White, supervisor of the Yellowknife Curling Club. “It doesn’t only affect our members and our staff, it really has a wider-reaching effect on families and other clubs.”

With the curling centre behind the picket line, White mentioned the membership’s common actions have been disrupted, together with leisure and aggressive league video games. It additionally needed to cancel its Rock the Rings U12, U15 and U20 bonspiel final week.

The closure of the ability, which has a six-sheet rink with snack and bar service, has additionally affected 4 part-time bartenders and the membership’s ice maker, who works full-time in the course of the curling season, she mentioned.

The N.W.T. Curling Association introduced the U18 junior ladies championships scheduled to happen in Yellowknife this week have been postponed whereas its masters occasion was relocated to Hay River final month.

Unionized employees with the town have been locked out and on strike since Feb. 8 after the events failed to achieve a deal on a brand new collective settlement. Wages proceed to be a sticking level.

As a consequence, the town’s pool and area — that are beside the curling centre — together with its library, stable waste facility, multiplex, fieldhouse, and customer info centre have been closed to the general public.

Magnolia Unka-Wool with the Yellowknife Skating Club mentioned as the sector is closed, determine skaters have been unable to organize for Skate Canada assessments and simulations, that are normally held in March and April. She noticed how being unable to compete affected her daughter when the sector was closed on account of COVID-19.

“She was devastated,” she mentioned.

“To think that we’re going to be going through that again and skaters are going to be put back is a pretty big disappointment for them. Most of the skaters, when they get to that test-streams level, everything they do revolves around skating.”

Unka-Wool mentioned a skater who lately competed on the Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island travelled to Mexico and Edmonton to get in ice time earlier than the competitors. Recreational skaters are additionally affected, she mentioned, and the membership will seemingly must cancel its upcoming ice present, which it hasn’t held since 2019 due to the pandemic.

The Yellowknife Rec Hockey League and Yellowknife Women’s Hockey Association have each ended their seasons early. A publish on the latter group’s Facebook web page signifies its government is trying into renting ice in Behchoko, an hour’s drive away.

The labour dispute has additionally affected golf equipment that use the fieldhouse, which has two indoor multi-sport fields, a climbing wall and play space, indoor observe and concession.

Soccer coach Joe Acorn mentioned the Yellowknife Bay Soccer Club has been practising at school gyms, that are smaller than the fieldhouse, however have been used earlier than the ability opened in 2010.

“I hope things get back to normal soon, but if not we’ll make do,” he mentioned. “We’re in a better situation than some of the sports like hockey and speedskating and figure skating. They really have no other option.”

Acorn mentioned he is extra involved Super Soccer championships could possibly be cancelled later subsequent month if the labour dispute continues.

The match, which pulls gamers from throughout the N.W.T. and Nunavut, hasn’t taken place the previous three years on account of COVID-19, he mentioned. If this yr’s occasion is cancelled, he mentioned some Grade 12 college students may have gone by means of all of highschool with out having the prospect to compete.

The metropolis mentioned in an announcement it acknowledges how the labour disruption has affected residents.

“Getting an agreement that is fair, affordable and respects the important role city employees play remains the city’s priority,” it reads.

The Union of Northern Workers and Public Service Alliance of Canada mentioned in an announcement that service reductions are the traditional results of labour disputes and their members are additionally Yellowknife residents who’ve been affected.

“Our members are out there on picket lines in freezing temperatures asking for fair wages and to be valued and respected by the employer,” it wrote.

Late final month, the town requested the union to enter into binding arbitration, the place a 3rd social gathering would determine on the dispute. The union declined the request, saying they imagine one of the simplest ways attain an settlement is thru negotiations.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed March 6, 2023. This story was produced with the monetary help of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.