Strike at Glencore's Brunswick Smelter in
Belledune, New Brunswick
Workers Stand Up for Their Rights and Dignity
In the early evening of April 24, the 281 production and
maintenance workers at the Glencore Brunswick smelter in Belledune, New
Brunswick went on strike. The workers launched their strike to defend
themselves against the concessionary demands of the Glencore mining and
metallurgical monopoly. The smelter workers are members of
United Steelworkers' Local 7085.
The workers met on April 4 and 5 to discuss the
situation and decide on a course of action with participation at close
to 100 per cent. Ninety-six per cent voted to withdraw their capacity
to work beginning April 24 at 6 pm. When workers for the dayshift
arrived the morning before the evening strike, company officials
forcibly prevented them
from entering the plant under the hoax that the security and safety of
operations was threatened.
Two days later, the Court of Queen's Bench of New
Brunswick on behalf of the Glencore oligarchs issued a court order
limiting the number of picketers to six at the entrances or exits of
the smelter and at any other geographical location in New Brunswick
where Glencore conducts business. The court also ordered the workers
not to obstruct in
any way any movement of employees, customers, suppliers and others to
and from the plant or to "harass" them including a prohibition of
taking photographs. The court further ordered workers not to in any
way obstruct the movement of rail cars to and from the plant, which
employs in total 450 people.
President of Local 7085 Bart Dempsey said the main
dispute with the company is on the issue of health and safety. Glencore
is demanding that the paid full-time position of the union co-chair of
the joint health and safety committee be transformed into a part-time
position. The full-time position was created after a strike in 1991,
when health
and safety was addressed.
President Dempsey told Workers' Forum, "They are
trying to get rid of our full-time safety rep. They are trying to get
rid of his office. That is a big key issue to the workers. There are a
lot of health and safety issues in a smelter like ours. We are working
with molten metal, high traffic equipment areas, overhead cranes, you
name it.
Plus all the chemicals you have to deal with. We've got a dangerous
workplace."
Workers on the picket lines told the media that under
Glencore's management the smelter has become an even more hazardous
workplace. In this situation, the workers say that having a full-time
union representative on site whom they can consult to determine whether
a job is safe to perform or not is important.
In a further attack on the right of workers to have a
prominent union presence at the workplace, Glencore wants to stop
paying for a full-time president of the local. In downgrading the union
presence, the company wants to pay only for a certain amount of hours
for the President to engage in union business outside of his regular
hours.
According to the union, Glencore also has concessionary
demands concerning the pension plans and benefits. The biggest hit for
workers in terms of the pension plans would be the elimination of the
voluntary early retirement plan, which allows members of the defined
benefits (DB) plan to retire before turning 65 with a certain number of
years worked and still receive their full pension. If the arrangement
is eliminated, DB plan members who choose to retire early would be
subject to a provincial regulation that reduces their pension amount by
six per cent per year ahead of when they are scheduled to retire. To
receive their full pension, they would have to work until they are 65,
no
matter how many years they have spent at the metal smelter, which
everyone knows takes an enormous toll on a worker's health.
The elimination of the current early retirement process
would be yet another hit for workers after the company forced a major
change to their pension plan during the previous negotiations. For the
current four-year contract, which took effect in 2015, the company shut
down the DB plan to employees with less than 12 years seniority at the
smelter and switched them over to an inferior defined contribution
arrangement.
Glencore also wants to reduce employees'
health, dental and drug coverage.
In response, the workers firmly demand the dignity and
respect they deserve for the hard work they do in the
lead/silver/copper smelter. Concessions on health and safety and
pensions are unacceptable. Signs on the picket line include: "Hands Off
Our Union Reps!"; "Hands Off Our Pensions!" and "Bullying Has to Stop!"
President Dempsey informed Workers' Forum that
since the signing of the last contract in 2014, Glencore has terminated
32 workers for various reasons, many of them under the inhumane legal
doctrine of "frustration of employment contract," which translates into
termination due to injury or illness of workers who are on long-term
disability. That is a trademark of Glencore's labour relations and is
what workers are aiming to stop with their strike, Dempsey said.
This article was published in
Number 16 - May 2, 2019
Article Link:
Strike at Glencore's Brunswick Smelter in
Belledune, New Brunswick: Workers Stand Up for Their Rights and Dignity
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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