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26 March, 2007
Miners of the United Steelworkers (USW) in Canada are on strike at the Iron Ore Co. of Canada for better workplace protections and reductions to subcontracting. The strike, by 1,300 USW members at a mine and pellet plant in Labrador City, Newfoundland, and an export water facility at Sept-Iles, Quebec, also involves wages and benefits.
Major mining house Rio Tinto owns 59% of Iron Ore Co. of Canada.
USW members in Labrador City, over 1,000 strong, walked out on 8 March, while port workers of another USW branch union joined the strike last week. The two sides have not held talks since the strikes began.
Management forced the strike with an inadequate pay package, and refusal to address the contractors’ issue, a matter that has brought hundreds of grievances by maintenance staff and production workers alike.
“The tipping point in this dispute included such fundamental issues as seniority rights,” stated USW District 6 Director Wayne Fraser. “It’s all about corporate control. Workers deserve to have their most basic rights respected.”
USW Disrtict 6 Director Wayne Fraser
Just minutes after the strike deadline on 8 March, management slid a revised offer under the office door of the branch unions’ bargaining committee. The company did move some on wages, and dropped its unfettered right to contract out any job at the mine site and pellet plant. But it was too little to stop the strike.
The two USW unions in Labrador City, Locals 5795 and 6731, have 500 grievances pending for arbitration. Many of these grievances involve work being performed by contractors, work that could be done by USW miners. Despite movement on the wage and benefit package, the company’s 8 March offer still falls short of what other mining companies in eastern Canada pay.
“This fight is about recognizing the intrinsic value our members bring to this operation,” stated USW Local 5795 President George Kean. The year “2006 broke all production records and our members gave the company the biggest profit in its history.”
Kean said employee morale is at an all-time low, citing a company survey of workers revealed that 87% of them felt they were not treated with respect and dignity. Management has turned a deaf ear to the survey.
USW Locals 5795 and 6731, on 1 March, voted by 98% to strike. The 250 port and dock workers at Sept-Iles, represented by USW Local 9344, voted to strike on 14 March, also with a 98% ballot.
The grievances and subcontracting issues date to 2004, when workers at the two locations undertook a 12-week strike to win a renewal labour agreement.