The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Commentary by Jonathon Naylor Here we are in 2012, a year that has been on the minds of residents for years _ and not because of the Mayan calendar's ominous prediction that the Earth is now on borrowed time. This is the year the collective bargaining agreement between Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting and its workforce _ the one that barred strikes until 2012 _ expires. Once the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve/Day, employees began working under the terms of an old contract while efforts to hammer out a new arrangement continued. The leadership of United Steelworkers Local 7106 has made it clear they oppose another no-strike clause. Indeed during a union rally in the fall of 2010, placards that looked like non-smoking signs _ but with '2012' in place of a cigarette _ were front and centre. No choice To be sure, workers felt like they had no choice back in the late 1990s when they agreed to forego their right to strike for so many years in advance. HBMS, then owned by Anglo American out of South Africa, had said the no-strike clause was imperative in ensuring the viability of the Flin Flon operations. Now, with HBMS owned by the much smaller HudBay Minerals _ whose only operating mines (at the moment) are those of HBMS _ it is time for both sides to reach a new deal. See 'Rec...' on pg. 6 Continued from pg. 1 Unfortunately, and rightly or wrongly, recent years have produced a somewhat acrimonious relationship between HudBay and those in its employ. Workers did not take kindly to the way the company handled the 2008 shutdown of its Balmat zinc mine in New Year State. According to the Watertown Daily Times, miners were gathered the morning of the closure and told they would be losing their jobs immediately. As one of those miners, James J. Hatfield, told the newspaper: 'They did it in a dirty way. We kept asking what was going on and none of them had the guts to tell us.' Balmat may be thousands of kilometres away, but HudBay's workers in Flin Flon took notice. I spoke with one civic leader who echoed their concerns: Would HudBay ever enact closures in our community in such an abrupt manner? Several months later, in January 2009, United Steelworkers Local 7106 felt 'low-balled' by HudBay. The Steelworkers said they were not involved in the decision to temporarily close all Snow Lake operations, nor were they asked to attend the meeting where workers were informed of the move. No matter whose side you were on, company-union relations had reached a point lower than the tunnels of 777. Granted, HudBay did give plenty of notice relative to its copper smelter, first identifying a closure as a strong possibility back in 2004. No bluff At the time it was widely seen as a bargaining ploy, but when HudBay reiterated its position in 2007 _ this time with even more definitive language _ it became obvious this was no bluff. When the smelter did blow its final puff of smoke in mid-2010, the company spent significant dollars on retirement incentives while offering transfers and retraining to further minimize layoffs. But the Steelworkers still had their concerns. In March 2010 they and their fellow unions exercised their contractual right to switch to eight-hour shifts, putting an end to the 'four on, four off' schedule to which employees had grown accustomed. To the unions, it was a means to save jobs amid the smelter closure, as they said more shifts necessitated more men and women on the payroll. The unions also fought against what they saw as injustice in the seniority system, as well as their fear that contractors were effectively taking away jobs that could go to HBMS workers. When the eight-hour shifts ended in November 2010, the unions were satisfied that their seniority concerns had been rectified. They also came away with renewed optimism on the issue of contractors. These matters received much publicity at the time. This new round of contractual talks, however, will go on behind closed, with many details staying out of the public sphere. What we do know is that the Steelworkers remain worried about how future workforce reductions will be handled. 'We still have great concerns about getting language around bumping of employees (Trout Lake, Snow Lake Mill Closure), when they are shutting down areas,' the union said on its website. Another non-monetary issue for the union: employees who leave the union to join the HBMS staff only to later return to the union. 'This has to stop. This is our CBA (collective bargaining agreement) not theirs,' said the union. 'We have to protect our rights. If you want to be staff _ stay staff. That's our position.' As per usual, HudBay is not publicly commenting on the negotiations. As this process plays itself out, it is important that the negotiations not overshadow what should be a rather exciting time for Flin Flon-Snow Lake. Yes, our region has lost the copper smelter (not entirely a bad thing considering its excessive pollution) and, yes, the Trout Lake and Chisel North mines are shutting down in the near future. But we will also be gaining the Lalor and Reed mines near Snow Lake, not to mention smaller, defunct mines that may potentially reopen with sufficient capital and metal prices. Hopefully these new jobs will at least match the number we have lost, and will lose, ensuring at the very least population stability. And when was the last time we could say that?
