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6 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 67/2000
The United Mine Workers of America has successfully negotiated new collective bargaining agreements with Pittsburg & Midway Coal Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of energy multinational Chevron.
Union members at the company's Kemmerer, Wyoming, mine voted on Aug. 1, overwhelmingly ratifying the agreement by 82%.
The miners were lent significant support by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the UMWA is affiliated at a global level.
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs had written to Chevron CEO David O'Reilly, urging the company to settle the dispute. In addition, ICEM oil union affiliates from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States all communicated their concern to Chevron.
Important assistance came from the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE), which represents approximately 2,000 Chevron workers in the United States. PACE mobilised its members at Chevron's oil refineries and chemical plants and urged the company to settle the coal dispute.
"We're very pleased with this agreement, and, obviously, so are our members," said UMWA Vice-President Jerry Jones, who led the union's negotiations. "We are extremely grateful for the solidarity and support we have received from the ICEM and from its oil worker union affiliates around the world."
"This is a great example of what can happen when union workers stand up for one another across borders and across industry lines," he said.
"Solidarity is what won this strike," added UMWA President Cecil Roberts. "The members of this local union, along with their family members and our supporters, really proved that if we stick together, we can prevail."
210 UMWA members were involved in the strike at the Kemmerer mine, which started on May 28.
UMWA members at the company's McKinley mine, near Window Rock, Arizona on the Navajo Nation, will vote on the tentative agreement covering that operation on Sunday, Aug. 6. The McKinley strike, involving 310 UMWA members, began on May 14.
Union members at the company's Kemmerer, Wyoming, mine voted on Aug. 1, overwhelmingly ratifying the agreement by 82%.
The miners were lent significant support by the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), to which the UMWA is affiliated at a global level.
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs had written to Chevron CEO David O'Reilly, urging the company to settle the dispute. In addition, ICEM oil union affiliates from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, India, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States all communicated their concern to Chevron.
Important assistance came from the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE), which represents approximately 2,000 Chevron workers in the United States. PACE mobilised its members at Chevron's oil refineries and chemical plants and urged the company to settle the coal dispute.
"We're very pleased with this agreement, and, obviously, so are our members," said UMWA Vice-President Jerry Jones, who led the union's negotiations. "We are extremely grateful for the solidarity and support we have received from the ICEM and from its oil worker union affiliates around the world."
"This is a great example of what can happen when union workers stand up for one another across borders and across industry lines," he said.
"Solidarity is what won this strike," added UMWA President Cecil Roberts. "The members of this local union, along with their family members and our supporters, really proved that if we stick together, we can prevail."
210 UMWA members were involved in the strike at the Kemmerer mine, which started on May 28.
UMWA members at the company's McKinley mine, near Window Rock, Arizona on the Navajo Nation, will vote on the tentative agreement covering that operation on Sunday, Aug. 6. The McKinley strike, involving 310 UMWA members, began on May 14.