BRITISH COLUMBIA

RINCETON — Members of the Can-
n Association of Industrial Mechanical
Allied Workers (CAIMAW) were still
fing this week with Critical Industries
amissioner Art Phillips to determine
er a proposal can be put together to
5» Newmont Mines Similkameen copper
here open.
it at the very least, the union — with
full support of the community — is
anding that Newmont give at least six
ths’ notice in the event of closure — not
‘sudden. announcement of shutdown
t came two weeks ago, just after
AW members had rejected wage and
concessions demanded by the com-
y as the price of continued operation.
‘If they’re going to get subsidies handed
them from the provincial government,
they should treat the people of the
nce, especially working people, with
y and respect,’ said CAIMAW
snal vice-president Roger Crowther.
U.S.-owned Newmont Mines Ltd., the
d main employer in this southern Inte-
r town, angered CAIMAW members
nd townspeople earlier this month when it
} suddenly demanded that the union re-write
its collective agreement and accept wage
totalling $4 an hour.
It wasn’t only wage cuts — the company
demanded unprecedented contracting-out
_fanguage which would allow the employer

HARRY

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Flanked by CAIMAW officers Roger Crowther (I) and Jess Succamore and other unionists, IWA representative Dick
O'Grady addresses meeting in Princeton Sept. 20.

to contract-out “any and all work,” and the
right to hire temporary employees who
would not qualify for the health and welfare
benefits in the contracts.

“They were unbelievable demands,”
CAIMA W staff representative Tom Warren

RANKIN «= CAMPBEL
WHO SPEAKS FOR YOU?

Here is the record of how they voted:

City jobs and services

When city council adopted a budget that would maintain city services and save
over 200 jobs (May 7, 1985)

2. Democracy and the Vancouver School Board

When city council decided to call on the provincial government to hold new
school board elections and restore Vancouver's local autonomy

.. Harry Rankin voted YES
Gordon Campbell voted NO

told the Tribune. “In effect, we would have
been totally without job security.”

Also a sore point, he said, was New-
mont’s ultimatum that the concessions
package was “not negotiable.” Similarly, the
proposals were presented on Friday Sept. 5

7.

Ets MQ 85) eS ee eS, OF BIS S.A oak en es Harry Rankin voted YES
(Oct. 1, 1985) Gordon Campbell voted NO

Better bus service at a better price
When Vancouver city council went on record in favour of lower transit fares for the

Developers versus local residents

When city council told the developers they would ae local Hany Rankin voted YES
iti lanning committee in Southwest Vancouver (Oct. 29, wees
hie se bmg ues Gordon Campbell voted NO

Shelter for battered women

When the City of Vancouver decided to sponsor a 10-bed transition house
(dan#28$1986) *aeke: |. . SAV a SRR Ee A  . w

Stopping the Expo evictions

Working towards world peace

When city council established a special Committee on Peace that helped make the
es Seay th eS Harry Rankin voted YES
nada Walk for Peace a success (March 12, 1985) Géadoe bonjpboll voted. NO

On November 15th, it’s your turn to vote.
Harry Rankin has supported the positive programs that have

benefited all the people of Vancouver.
And he’s got the record to prove it!

VOTE HARRY RANKIN FOR MAYOR.

COPE vatcousve

—

PACIFIC TRIBUNE, SEPTEMBER 24, 1986 e 3

with an answer expected back the following
Saturday.

The union responded even sooner, how-
ever, rejecting the concessions by a unanim-
ous vote.

Newmont’s subsequent announcement
that it would close the mine Oct. 31 sparked
outrage from the community of Princeton,
including mayor Gloria Stout who remarked
on the company’s “poor corporate citizen-
ship.”

At a public rally Sept. 20, one of a series
of meetings called by the council of unions
in Princeton, unionists denounced the com-
pany’s plans to shut down.

“It’s outrageous the way they did it,” said
Crowther. “It came just as kids were going
back to school so they didn’t know if they
were going to have to move or if their dads
would have a job.”

Newmont’s Similkameen copper-gold-
silver mine employs some 330 people, of
which 225 are members of CAIMAW.
Many of them are long-time employees, and
“some of them have been there since New-
mont started operations” said Warren.

Crowther said the town has been “behind
the union totally” on the issue. “We said
basically that if there are costs to be made

up, they shouldn’t come out of the pockets
of workers,” he said.

The timing of Newmont’s demand for
concessions has also prompted suspicion
since it was made just after Placer Devel-
opment Ltd.’s Endako mine was given spe-
cial electricity discounts on a sliding scale
from 50 to 20 per cent over a four-year
period. The discounts are part of the Social
Credit government’s subsidies: to business
made available in last year’s budget.

Newmont has already been the recipient
of a discount power deal, signed in July, but
the cuts are less, 20 per cent, and for a
24-year period.

“Somebody in the boardroom in New
York probably made the decision (to press
for concessions) after hearing of the Endako
deal,” Crowther said.

He noted that if the company were given
the same power discounts as Endako, the
savings would roughly equal the savings in
the wage concessions package the company
demanded.

Critical Industries Commissioner Art
Phillips met with company officials last
week and later with union representatives.

Crowther said that CAIMAW put some
proposals to Phillips Monday, although
they were not yet public. “They weren’t
exactly what Phillips had asked for but he
said he would put them to the company and

get back to us.”

The union “should know where we
stand” later this week, he said.