|
|
|
|

Regional Feature

Copper strike targets contracting-out

: Continued from page 1
dispute that has reverberations throughout
the mining industry — and the labour
movement.

At stake are wages and the contracting-
Out of Steelworkers’ jobs, the issue that has
come to occupy centre stage.

‘It was an issue from the beginning but
Now it’s become the focal point of the
Strike,” says Richard Boyce, the local union
President whose election last year was fol-
lowed quickly by preparations for bargain-
ing On a new agreement. The old contract
expired June 30.

“Every time, you turned around on the
Property, you were bumping into another
contractor,” he says during a weekend
Interview at his home in Kamloops. “We
were slowly seeing our jobs being eroded.”

Although the company had contracted-
Out several jobs at the mine site — including

work on the huge tailings dam — the |

membership of Local 7619 were not partic-
ularly affected because of expansion of the
mine. :

The issue “came to a head during negoti-
ations,” he says, when the union was told
that some 100 people would laid off as a
Tesult of the closure of the Bethlehem mill,
One of the properties which was merged
When the partnership was created. The
company also announced that the mine
maintenance shop would be cut back as the
Tesult of the purchase of new haulage trucks
from the U:S. Caterpillar firm.

The union was unable to get any assuran-
ces that those laid off would be offered work
currently being done by contractors where
they were qualified. But the news that
incensed union membership was Highland
Valley Copper’s disclosure that it had
signed a deal with Finning Caterpillar in
Illinois to have all the maintenance work
done by Finning mechanics — on contract.

Out on the picket line, one member after
another points to the Finning contract as
the key example of what they’re determined
to take a stand against. “If they can have
Finning mechanics, why not Finning truck
drivers? Or Finning shovel operators?”
Mike Atkins demands. “‘There’s no end to
the contracting-out.”

Union members also point to the
Noranda-owned Nova mine near Barriere
Where virtually all the work has been
Contracted-out to non-union contractors.
.. What we’re saying,” Boyce emphasizes,
‘ls that if there are people either on the
Property or laid off who are qualified to do
the work, the company should give them

‘the jobs before they contract it out.

“But the company wants an open hand
to contract-out any job — and we’re saying
that won’t happen,” he declares.

Contract talks broke down two weeks
go over the contracting-out language when
the company introduced new clauses that
had the effect of nullifying language already
agreed. Mediator Vince Ready adjourned
the Negotiations indefinitely, calling the
bargaining situation created by the com-
Pany’s proposed changes “a blueprint for
disaster.”

Ironically, the talks had been moved to
Vancouver so that they could be closer to
top officials from the mining companies.
“But the people we were sitting across from
Were the same ones we met in Kamloops,”
Boyce notes.

Still to come in bargaining is the hard talk
On wages, with the union pressing for a
$2.30 across-the-board increase in the first
year followed by a six-per-cent second year
wage hike. Members need the increase, the
Union asserts, to make up for inflation over
the last seven years — they gave up a
COLA clause in an earlier agreement —
and to bring them up to par with workers in
Other industries, including coal mining.

The Steelworkers’ case is backed up by
the economics of Highland Valley Copper.
The third largest mine in the world, it is,
according to Teck’s 1988 annual report

“one of the largest copper producers in the
world as well as one of the lowest cost
producers.”

The price of copper, currently at $1.27
U.S., is the highest it has ever been — but
HVC also produces significant amounts of
silver, gold and molybdenum. In fact, the
return on those metals alone more than
covers the company’s payroll costs.

Boyce points to a newly-issued union
news bulletin, issued just after the break-
down in talks Sept. 15. It is thick with statis-
tics, most of them drawn from company
bulletins and annual reports, but one stands
out: in 1988, despite an increase in the
number of employees from 858 to 1,184,
the payroll actually declined as a percentage
of gross sales compared to 1986 — the
direct result of increases in production.

“You don’t get much more competitive
than this mine,” Boyce says. ““They’re lead-
ing the way — the trouble is they forgot
that we’re part of it. Without us, there’s no
profits.” pein

Boyce, with his slight figure and thin wire

— but as more and more unionists become
aware of the central issue, that is expected to
change.

Boyce notes that
the strike could be a
prelude for next
year’s bargaining for
Steelworkers at the
smelter at Trail where
Cominco is also pres-
sing for greater free-
dom to contract out.
And many people
remember the IWA
strike in 1986 over =
contracting-out. BOYCE

Boyce is quick to point out that the lan-
guage that the IWA got isn’t enough
“because if you ask a lot of 1'WA members,
they'll tell you it hasn’t worked for them.

“We want language that will work for
us — and what we’re asking for isn’t
much,” he says.

The union is also looking for ways to turn

At top: part of Highland Valley Copper’s
huge open-pit mine between Logan Lake
and Ashcroft; below, Steelworkers
members picket at Calling Lake Road,
one of several entrances to the mine site.

glasses, probably doesn’t fit the image of a
leader of hard-rock miners — or even that
of a heavy-duty mechanic, a job he held for
nine years before being elected as Local
7619 president last year. But out on the
picket line he commands a respect among
the membership that would be the envy of
any union leader after three months on
strike.

“He’s united us like we’ve never been
united before — and the reason is that
everybody knows what we’re out for,” says
Larry MacDonald, a lube servicemen in the
maintenance shop.

After talks broke down last week, the
union took the unusual step of calling
membership meetings and inviting workers’
families to the meetings to discuss the issues.

“Usually about his time, there’s some
people hollering about getting back to
work,” says Ed Parsons, a shovel operator.
“At the union meeting we had in Ashcroft,

the hill was filled but no one got up to-

question the strike. And at the end, they
gave the committee a standing ovation.”
The strike isn’t well known outside the
valley — mainly because of the attitude of
the commercial media which has not had
picket line incidents to attract its interest

Renna

tame es

up the pressure as the strike moves into its
fourth month and times start getting a
tougher.

Union members are entitled to $75 a
week basic strike pay which goes up by $10
per week for each dependent. “It just covers
groceries,” says truck driver Bernie Proz-
nick, “‘but we’re doing what we can to get
by.” Most have had to go to the banks to
ask for postponements on their mortgage
payments and although most branches have
co-operated, “the Bank of Montreal has
been putting the squeeze on our people,”
says Boyce.

So far, a phone call to the manager has
headed off most problems but Boyce said
the union may consider more concerted
action in the future. The local has already
put up information pickets around a local
Ford dealer who was doing contract main-
tenance work for Highland Valley Copper,
and B.C. Hydro which attempted to send in
a meter reader who refused to check with
picket captains. Both have since backed off.

Boyce says that an appeal will likely be
going out soon to Steel locals across the
country, asking for financial assistance. The
local is not affiliated to the Kamloops and
District Labour Council but the council is

lending support which is expected to be
stepped up in the next few weeks, according
to council secretary Jack Kerssens.

Two weeks ago, B.C. Federation of
Labour president Ken Georgetti visited the
picket line and the federation is currently
considering union action to put pressure on
the company to settle.

For its part, Highland Valley Copper is
making no moves towards the bargaining
table despite the loss of production, relying
on its operations elsewhere in the country
and the world to meet metal needs — while
keeping copper prices up. And according to
Boyce, company representatives told the
union at the bargaining table: “The
members’ expectations are too high — but
in time, they’ll change.”

“They’ve as much as told that they’re
prepared to starve us out,” notes Atkins
angrily.

The company has even maintained con-
stant surveillance of the picket lines with
video cameras and parabolic microphones
which can pick up conversations from con-

siderable distances. It’s occasionally back-
fired, however, and local members like to
tell the story of one union representative
who came out to the picket line one day
about 3 a.m. Seeing that all was quiet, he
looked up at the company’s security shack
more than 50 metres away and said in a
voice that was barely above a whisper: “Say,
I wonder if that’s one of our guys under the
shack ...?”

Within seconds, the shack had emptied
and security guards were searching under-
neath — accompanied by gales of laughter
from the picket line below.

Still, the company’s comments in bar-
gaining, coupled with rumours that local
management staff have organized a pool to
take bets on when the mine will get back to
work, have spurred anger among unionists
— and determination.

“T never thought I was a radical — but
they’ve changed my mind in the last three
months,” says Parsons. “Sure, we’re losing
a lot by being on strike — but we’ll stay
here no matter what it takes.”

“If we don’t take a stand,” Boyce
emphasizes, “we're just going to be allowing
them to open doors on what they want to do
right across Canada.”

Pacific Tribune, October 2, 1989 « 3