Canadian Workers Support Mining Workers
in Idaho
BC and U.S. Steelworkers Rally at Hecla Mining's Annual General Meeting
Vancouver, May 23, 2019
BC steelworkers and allies joined striking miners from
Idaho on May 23 to protest the anti-labour practices of U.S.-based
Hecla Mining. The action was launched as Hecla Mining held its annual
general meeting in Vancouver.
Approximately 240 members of United Steelworkers Local
5114 have been on strike for over two years at Hecla's Lucky Friday
mine in Mullan, Idaho. This is the longest labour dispute in the
history of the state's Silver Valley. The miners worked under terms of
an expired agreement for nearly 11 months before Hecla management's
refusal to
negotiate with the workers and demands for anti-worker concessions
forced the workers to go on strike in March 2017.
Lucky Friday is an underground silver, lead, and zinc
mine located in the Coeur d'Alene mining district in northern Idaho.
Hecla Mining Company operates silver mines in Alaska (Greens Creek),
Idaho (Lucky Friday), and Mexico (San Sebastian) and operates gold
mines in Quebec (Casa Berardi in the Abitibi region) and Nevada (Fire
Creek and Hollister).
At the protest, workers told shareholders going into the
meeting that Hecla's anti-worker activities are hurting workers, their
families and shareholders. They demanded that the shareholders exert
pressure on Hecla Mining executives to negotiate a collective agreement
acceptable to the workers.
Workers report that Hecla's concessionary demands amount
to having the mine operate without the union and without the workers
having any say in their working conditions.
One striking worker wrote on the union local's Facebook
page that, "The contract offer from Hecla is designed to break the
union and gain complete and total control of the workforce, period!
[...] A fair contract is one that respects our collective voice as a
Union so as to retain job security and safety in the workplace. [...]
I'm not going to go
into detail on the disputed offer Hecla has laid on the table, that's
for our negotiating team to do, but it is enough to say that it is a
backwards step across the board in every way imaginable and the
majority of our members will be making many thousands of dollars less
per year [...] I can tell you this without hesitation; the overwhelming
majority
of this Union's workforce doesn't appreciate Hecla Mining Company's
foot on our collective necks in their attempt to mute our voice. We
demand more respect than that. We deserve more respect than that, and;
through a long list of fellow workers who have lost their lives at the
Lucky Friday, we have EARNED more respect than that."
Amongst the company's concessionary demands, workers
have highlighted the following: workers will have to pay much more
money for their medical coverage and Hecla wants to be able to make
changes to the coverage without their approval; Hecla is demanding an
end to the bidding regime to determine work teams and assignments at
the mine; it wants to be the
sole decider of who works at the mine and to be able to replace
unionized workers with non-union workers without restriction; job
progression would take place at the sole discretion of the company; on
a daily basis, supervisors and management would assign where workers
are to work; shifts could be anywhere between 8 to 12 hours, at the
company's discretion, etc. Workers see this as having a union in name
only, which they reject.
Lucky Friday mining workers have been waging actions in
defence of their rights and dignity in Silver Valley, as well as in
many cities across the U.S. and Canada.
Striking Hecla miners visit New Westminster, May 24, 2019, to speak
about their struggle at the local labour council.
This article was published in
Number 21 - June 6, 2019
Article Link:
Canadian Workers Support Mining Workers
in Idaho: BC and U.S. Steelworkers Rally at Hecla Mining's Annual General Meeting
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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