The Union of Northern Workers says it has filed a grievance and will exhaust all options to stop Aurora College community learning centre staff losing their jobs.
The college said on Thursday it will close all 19 of the territory’s community learning centres by the end of June.
In a news release, the college said its governors – who now have responsibility for managing college affairs, rather than direct GNWT oversight – had made the decision because of low enrolment and high costs to keep the centres open.
The union said 47 unionized positions would be affected.
In an internal message to affected members, the union told them: “We will use every tool available to us to protect your jobs.”
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Gayla Thunstrom, the union’s president, used that message to urge affected staff to contact their MLA, ministers and the college’s president to “let them know that these cuts are unacceptable.”
“We are not giving up. We will all fight together for your jobs, for education, and for the communities you serve,” Thunstrom wrote.
The union confirmed to Cabin Radio that it has filed a grievance under article 33.02 of its collective agreement with the Government of the Northwest Territories.
The collective agreement states that the union must have three months’ warning before any layoff notices are issued and, within 30 days of any such notice, must be given a meeting with the employer “to consult meaningfully on alternatives to workforce reduction in order to preserve public services and minimize adverse effects on employees.”
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“Your union has already filed a grievance against the employer over their failure to consult,” Thunstrom wrote on Thursday.
Aurora College appeared to try to address the issue in its Thursday news release, which suggested a staff meeting that day to announce the closures was only “informal advance notice.”
“Official notification will be provided to impacted employees on or after March 20,” the college stated.
Thunstrom, though, wrote that the decision to close the centres “was announced as final without giving the union an opportunity to meet with the employer to discuss ways to avoid layoffs.”
Aurora College said its board chair Joe Handley and president Angela James were not immediately available for interview on Thursday, but were expected to be made available in the coming days.
The NWT government has also been approached for comment about whether it supports the governors’ decision. (The establishment of a board of governors in 2023 took Aurora College away from direct territorial government control for the first time since 2017.)
On Thursday evening, Range Lake MLA Kieron Testart said he was “as surprised as anyone” by the decision to close the centres.
“While I think the college should focus on post-secondary learning, academic upgrading – particularly Indigenous student upgrading – is badly needed in all our communities,” Testart wrote.
“The GNWT should take these centres on or transfer funds to Indigenous governments to operate their own.”
