Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) members were protesting outside of the legislative assembly on Thursday, Oct. 17, in solidarity with their Local 13 colleagues employed by Fort Simpson Housing Authority.

The protest also lined up with MLAs returning to the legislature for a sitting.

Some MLAs came out to say hello and show support, notably Great Slave's Kate Reid and Robert Hawkins of Yellowknife Centre.

Gayla Thunstrom, president of the Union of Norther Workers, pointed out that it's been three weeks since Fort Simpson Housing Authority unionized workers began striking.

In that time, there's been little progress made with their employer, NWT Housing, according to Thunstrom.

"The only thing I've heard is that they're not willing to go back to the table," she said.

PSAC represents the Union of Northern Workers. When workers tell Thunstrom about their struggles, what she hears the most, she said, is about staff shortages and being underpaid.

"They live in a very small community where their cost of living is a lot higher and a lot of times what they see is people will get their red-seal tickets and move on to other organizations," Thunstrom explained.

As for what fair wages actually look like, Loyal Letcher, an apprentice with the Fort Simpson Housing Authority, said he and his co-workers should at least keep up with inflation.

"My work shouldn't be worth less and less every year," he said.

"We're really understaffed and overworked. We've had a job posted for an oil burner mechanic for years and it just hasn't been filled," he said to provide one example.

Letcher said there are a lot people in Fort Simpson who rely on diesel and furnaces for heating their homes, but the housing authority has provided primarily patch repairs because they don't have enough staff to complete thorough fixes. 

"We need these essential repairs for a lot of these units SA¹ú¼ÊÓ°ÊÓ´«Ã½” a lot of these consistent, reoccurring maintenance problems that people find and we just don't have the time to fix it or don't have the resources to," said Letcher.

He started working this past summer, he said. He works with a team of around six or seven, he noted, and he said that's too little.

"We need a full-time plumber," he gave as another example, noting that the job has been available for years with no one to answer the call either.