Two Yukoners say community spirit helped them get their jobs back

This week, it's business as usual at the Marsh Lake waste transfer station for attendants Aubree Peters and Gord Atkinson.

The two were recently reinstated as the dump's attendants after being fired Friday for what they say was a miscommunication stemming from their request to have the waste transfer station closed on Boxing Day.

Both Peters and Atkinson said they think it's the outpouring of community support that helped get their jobs back.

The day they were fired, Peters went to social media and said her farewell, and explained why she and Atkinson were being let go.

She said over 150 people commented on her post, some as far away as Mexico.

"It was absolutely amazing," Peters told CBC News.

"It was less than ten minutes after I posted that, that people were [saying], "Come on, we got to do something about this, and this isn't right and that's not fair."

"Everyone came through for us," Atkinson added. 

According to Peters and Atkinson, they reached out to the Marsh Lake local advisory council in November to look into if, and how, they could have the dump closed for Boxing Day.

"We thought we were going through the proper channels," said Atkinson.

"Christmas falls on a Monday. Boxing day is on a Tuesday, and normally we're off Wednesday, and Thursday. So we went to the council and asked if we could have it off. We thought everything was fine and then everything kind of went south."

Peters said the council voted in favour of closing the site for Boxing Day, but it didn't have any official authority to make that call. That decision lies solely with the Yukon government.

Peters said she was made aware that the Yukon government wasn't happy that they had gone above their employer, Lanix Property Management, who is contracted by the government to manage the site.

Both attendants were informed they were being let go.