After spending seven weeks on the picket line, staff at Many Rivers Counselling and Support Services maintain they will remain firm in their demands in light of a response from a negotiator representing their employer a couple of days ago.

But that response did not work to put any of their concerns to bed, with some calling it disgusting and disrespectful given there was no apparent indication the employer is willing to budge, said some workers.

“Days before Christmas, we get a reply that is really a non-reply,” Steve Geick, president of the Yukon Employees’ Union (YEU), told the media late Tuesday morning. The YEU represents the workers.

Some gathered at a news conference estimated there are “under 20” staff members who are impacted by the strike in Whitehorse.

That number would rise given that there are sites in not just the downtown core but Haines Junction, Dawson City and Watson Lake.

“Even if we said, ‘yeah, let’s talk, maybe we can move,’ which we can’t, he knows damn well we wouldn’t get back to the table until sometime in January at least,” Geick said. He was referencing Many Rivers’ executive director, Brent Ramsay.

Ramsay has not returned the Star’s calls nor emails seeking comment on the labour dispute since it began in early November.

That wasn’t the only naming of names by those gathered Tuesday.

Three representatives were on hand to share their thoughts on the response received just days ago: Kim Rogers, Brandon Murdoch and Larissa Korns.

In the organization’s annual report for 2017-2018, all three are listed as generalist counsellors in Whitehorse.

Murdoch serves as president of the local Y031, and all three added they sit on the bargaining team.

Collectively, they took aim at members serving on the board, reading at times parts from a letter sent to the team by the negotiator.

The workers are asking for the freedom to schedule themselves, something Korns said the board is concerned could impact intake and overtime costs.

But that’s not so, she said: “we’re not asking for much.”

Flexibility will allow workers to “be prepared when we see our clients instead of walking in with them at 9 a.m., and so at the end of the day we have time for paperwork and spend a few extra minutes with a client who needs it.”

She added she doesn’t suspect that could impact the hours per workday and it is not complex.

“The only impact it has on business is it improves services for our clients.”

Rogers chimed in, adding that “for now, I believe the message to the union is unchanged.”

That was her response to when the letter she read from referenced that the employer would continue to consider the workers’ position and any solution which may present itself.

Newer solutions may not be likely, given that it has seen more than year-long negotiations take place, Rogers said.

“There’s nowhere else really for us to go,” she said. Doing so would be “short of rescinding completely the points that are most important to us,” she added.

One of those, Murdoch later said, is asking for a 1.5 per cent increase in payscale, which she called “not severe.”

Rogers added that the strike “also speaks to the fact that our message to our clients remains unchanged as well, it’s not acceptable.”

The group explained that it has been working to let people know that services like the outreach van is no longer run by Many Rivers.

“In terms of those people out there on the streets, I hope they’re getting by with the resources they have,” Korns said.

For her part, Murdoch pointed to the organization’s vision statement as referenced in its annual report, which adds it is “healthy individuals and families living in supportive communities,” with the group existing to help create “healthy positive, resilient individuals” and family relationships.

“Why is it that’s what our job is, but we’re unwilling to do that for our staff?” Murdoch asked. She explained that workers have often leaned on one another for support during the strike, rather than its board.

“But we shouldn’t have to because we should have a clinical supervisor in town to be able to support us within the building.”

That was perhaps in reference to Mary DeVan, who is listed as the director of clinical services at Many Rivers.

The annual report notes she held more than 200 clinic supervision sessions through Skype and was onsite once every quarter (so four times a year).

“I think it’s fairly rare to have a clinical supervisor who’s not only not present on site but is out of the territory,” Korns said, explaining that there is also a consultant who works from the U.S.

According to the organization’s webpage, that consulting psychologist is based out of California and offers periodic consultation to the outreach van.

“This is perplexing, why we require someone so far away to work with us and how that connects to life in the Yukon,” Korns said, adding she hopes to speak about this and financial transparency with the board.

She added that the role of a clinical supervisor is to help with ethical responsibilities, case management and professional development.

Murdoch furthered that having care closer to home would be easier logistically as well.

“We should be able to, when we have a client that is in crisis and talking about suicide, we (should be) able to contact our supervisor when we need to.”

She criticized Marina Bailey, listed as the board’s president in the report. Bailey is quoted as saying the group helps navigate challenges faced by people by “connecting them with their inner strength and community of support.”

Nodding, Murdoch said “that’s absolutely what we do, but what we’re asking for is the same kindness that is afforded to our clients for ourselves.”

Meanwhile, the organization is also in hot water with the Yukon government. YG provided a contribution as part of an agreement of $1.9 million in 2016 and $2 million for both 2017 and 2018 (as per annual reports posted to its webpage).

Rogers said she was happy to see the investigation put forward by YG, a sign of the response being “proactive.

“The response we got from the employer (via the negotiator), nothing seems forthcoming from that end. Maybe it’s going to have to resort from happening from above,” she said.

For its part, as the Star reported Monday, YG has said it is not involved in the ongoing negotiations between workers and staff at Many Rivers, but the concerns that had been brought about its status as a society were passed on and an investigation is active.

That was after Community Services Minister John Streicker, whose department oversees the Societies Act, confirmed in early November that the group had been listed as in breach of the act because it did not provide financial statements and annual reporting documents. Those were supposed to have been submitted to the Registrar of Societies as of last July.

The YEU said it will continue to fully support striking workers, and has the manpower of its parent organization, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

The union noted in its release that a couple of board members have also resigned.

Tuesday’s event was more than just a press conference. Open to the public, it saw Yukon NDP Leader Liz Hanson and Justin Lemphers, the Yukon Federation of Labour (YFL) president, attend too, along with other members of the public.

Hanson has been vocal in her support for the striking staff. Lemphers explained that the YFL has been promoting the situation with striking workers.

Adding that the federation will have a council meeting in the new year, Lemphers said any proposal brought forward from striking workers or YEU or affiliate members “on how to address this at a political level in the public or media, that can be brought forward in that January meeting.”

See letter.