Contract workers in Key Lake Saskatchewan are threatening job action if their living quarters aren't cleaned up.

Around 260 workers live at the uranium processing site in Key Lake, which deals with ore taken from the McArthur River mine. They are fed up with what they think is black mould growing "in the kitchen and living quarters, everywhere," says one worker who asked to remain anonymous.

The employee says the parent company, Cameco, has known about the situation since January. "They did some kind of report, they took pictures, and they took samples of the mould to get it figured out."

But the worker says Cameco has refused to spend the money to fix up the trailers, kitchens, and bathrooms for the workers.

"They don't want to spend the money to bring up new trailers, that's at least about $4 million for sure, with the kitchen and all that. Right now the air duct system has problems with the mold, and they just want to fix that," he says. "They're going to try to revise the system, but that's a crock of (expletive). For people to try to sweep it under the rug, I mean, come on."

The worker says all of the employees threatened to walk off the job, but are willing to come back if Cameco cleans up the living quarters.

A Cameco spokesperson says they do have a plan to deal with the mould, and that the matter of job action comes down to a problem in communication.

"I believe in February a consultant developed a remediation plan, and that plan was to start in June," says Robert Gereghty, Director of Communications for Cameco. "I know that the Occupational Health Committee approved the plan. I think there's been a problem, in that we didn't communicate appropriately with the contractors. There's an issue in communication."

Gereghty says Cameco is now working to resolve the issue as fast as possible. Any employees who wish to leave the job site are free to do so. "Those who want to leave the site will be allowed, they'll be accommodated, anyone who wants to stay will be put up in other rooms, and we're also bringing in ventilation."