Dominion Diamond Mines in
Northwest Territories Goes
Under Bankruptcy Protection
Workers Determined to Defend Their Rights
- Interview, Todd Parsons, President, Union of Northern Workers,
Northwest Territories -
Ekati Diamond Mine main camp
Dominion Diamond Mines (DDM) has been under
insolvency protection of the Companies'
Creditors Arrangement Act
(CCAA) since April 22. Workers and their union
are demanding that the
pension obligations DDM has towards them be
maintained and that
employment obligations provided for in their
collective agreement be
protected. They are also demanding that the
Ekati mine be kept
operating.
Dominion Diamond Mines is one of the world's
largest
producers and suppliers of premium rough
diamonds on the global
markets. It owns and operates the Ekati Diamond
Mine and owns 40 per
cent of the Diavik Diamond Mine whose main owner
is Rio Tinto, which
also operates the mine. The company also owns
the Lac de Gras Diamond
Project which is part of the kimberlite field
that includes the Ekati
and Diavik diamond mines. The project is
considered to have significant
exploration potential for the discovery of new
diamondiferous
kimberlites. All these sites are located around
300 kilometres
northeast of Yellowknife.
In addition to its mining and exploration operations,
Dominion has sales offices in Belgium and India. In 2017, Dominion
Diamond Mines was bought by the U.S.-based monopoly the Washington
Companies which owns companies in rail transportation, marine
transportation, construction and mining, heavy equipment sales,
aviation technology, and real estate development.
Workers' Forum is posting below a recent
interview with Todd Parsons, the President of
the Union of Northern
Workers (UNW) which represents over 400 workers
at the Ekati Diamond
Mine.
Workers' Forum: How big an
employer is Dominion Diamond Mines in the
Northwest Territories?
Todd Parsons: Dominion Diamond
Mines is
one of the largest employers, next to the
government, in our region.
Among other things, it provides employment to
the Aboriginal people in
a lot of our smaller communities as well as to
people in Yellowknife.
While 400 bargaining unit members are affected
by the filing of the
insolvency protection, there are also 700 more
who are not in our
bargaining unit but work in the mine and are
also affected. Closure of
the mine would have a devastating impact on the
workers and their
communities and on the whole economy of the
Northwest Territories.
WF: Dominion Diamond Mines
actually shut
down the Ekati Diamond Mine on March 19, before
filing for insolvency
protection, didn't they?
TP: Yes. The company shut down
the site,
reporting that the shutdown was related to
concern over COVID-19 and
their inability to see the diamonds that are
mined at the site.[1]
The company said that they were not able to sell
their product on the
markets because the trading floors in
Belgium and across Europe were closed, or mostly
closed, because of
COVID-19. The mine has actually never reopened.
We raised the issue
with the employer but they have not provided any
solid reopening date.
Meanwhile, the other diamond company, Diavik
Diamond
Mine, which is owned at 40 per cent by Dominion
Diamond Mine and the rest by
Rio Tinto, never shut down and says that they
are able to sell their
diamonds on the global markets. There is a
conflict between them on
this matter. It is hard to confirm what the real
facts are in this
regard.
 A month after
shutting down the Ekati Mine, Dominion Diamond
Mines filed and obtained insolvency protection
under the Companies'
Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).
Certainly the timing of all this raises
questions and concerns.
Our union is closely involved in monitoring the
court
proceedings. Our legal counsel is seeking
protection for workers for
both pension obligations and employment
obligations that are in our
collective agreement. The employer must continue
with its pension
obligations and continue to provide benefits to
the membership that
were previously
agreed to in our collective agreement. Those are
paramount to protect.
We are also looking for an outcome that
maintains operations at the
mine site.
What we are observing through the court process
is that
another subsidiary of The Washington Companies
has made an offer to buy
the assets of the Ekati Mine. In their offer
they are proposing to
maintain the pension and employment obligations
and keep the mine site
operating.
However, it will be for the court to determine
whether
or not that offer is accepted. Other bids can be
made under the CCAA
court proceedings. It is rather unusual, in the
context of CCAA
proceedings, that The Washington Companies has
stated publicly in the
Northwest Territories what their offer is. I am
not aware of any other
bid at this
moment in time.
What is certain is that if the mine site closes
it would
be a devastating situation for the workers and
the communities and it
would hit the northern economy hard, especially
because we are in a
COVID-19 situation. We cannot afford to lose
this economic engine which
is driving our economy. We need the pension and
employment obligations
to be maintained and we need to keep the Ekati
Diamond Mine operating.
Note
1. When Dominion Diamond
Mines
(DDM) suspended the operations at the Ekati mine
in March, the union
stated that the DDM management made a unilateral
decision and did not
work with the union to achieve mutually
acceptable solutions to the
issues concerning the health and safety of all
workers, their families and their communities
and the economic
uncertainty the suspension was causing to
workers. The union also filed
a grievance for violation of various aspects of
the collective
agreement as the company dictated that the
collective agreement did not
apply to an unprecedented situation such as a
global pandemic. In particular, the
company violated the negotiated layoff and
recall procedures when it
decided which crew it would keep to maintain the
mine site. Workers
were denied their negotiated severance payments
should they opt for
permanent layoff in light of the indefinite
suspension of the
operations. DDM also violated the Socio-Economic
Agreements and Impact
Benefits Agreements the company has with First
Nations groups, which
establishes a ratio of Indigenous employees it
has to keep at the mine.
This article was published in
Number 43 - June 23, 2020
Article Link:
Dominion Diamond Mines in
Northwest Territories Goes : Workers Determined to Defend Their Rights >
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
|
