Public service workers from Canada's territories are meeting this weekend in Iqaluit, where they will march to protest potential job cuts.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada's triennial northern convention runs from Friday to Sunday, bringing about 150 members from Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon to Nunavut's capital city.

The convention will include a march in Iqaluit on Saturday, as members protest the federal Conservative government's plans for eliminating the deficit.

Jean-François Des Lauriers, the national union's executive vice-president in the North, said he disputes the government's claim that Ottawa's budgetary plans will not include major job losses.

"The message is going to be, 'Do not cut public services.' And it's especially important for a region like Nunavut, for example, and the North as a whole, that depends so heavily on public services," Des Lauriers told CBC News as the convention began on Friday.

"The North is heavily dependent on public services. And not only should they not cut these services, but they should really improve and augment them."

Des Lauriers also said the Conservative government poses a threat to labour unions across Canada, citing back-to-work legislation for Canada Post employees that is expected to be introduced in the House of Commons next week.

"There's always been threats to labour, but right now the threat is becoming more defined. The battle lines are drawn, and we will be fighting back," he told delegates.

While the federal government has said budgetary cuts will not necessarily lead to job cuts, Des Lauriers said there is no way the government can cut billions of dollars without devastating the public sector.

The alliance's march is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m. ET in Iqaluit.