Long distance commuting (ldc) is required for jobs that are so isolated from the workers’ homes that food and accommodation are provided for them at the worksite. Schedules are established whereby employees spend a fixed number of days at the site, followed by a fixed number of days at home.
The first Canadian mine to use this system was Asbestos Hill, in northern Quebec, in 1972. Since then, 13 other mines have opened (see accompanying table); at the end of 1987, nine of these were in operation while two others were under development.
Ldc accounts for a significant and increasing proportion of the mining labor force in Canada. By 1987, fly-in mines employed 2,100 workers, representing 4.4% of all Canadian metal miners (38% of which were in the Northwest Territories and 18% in Saskatchewan). According to data from Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, fly-in mines accounted for 5% of all new gold, uranium and lead/zinc mines that opened between 1975 and 1979. Between 1980 and 1984, fly-in mines accounted for 15% of total openings, and between 1985 and 1987 the comparable figure was 36%.
Soon after fly-in was adopted, it seemed LDC could spread employment and other economic benefits through the north and other geographically peripheral regions. However, studies by Shrimpton and Storey at Memorial’s Dept. of Geography show that fly-in operations do more for southern centres. Fly-in miners are free to decide where to live, and the majority of miners live in and move to the south. Furthermore, the researchers’ findings suggest that most mining companies buy their supplies and services from the south.
The research was undertaken, in part, to determine what impact ldc has on northern development and on workers and their families. The studies were funded by emr’s Research Agreements Program and the Labour Canada Technology Impacts Program. Included in the research were reviews of literature, key informant interviews, a questionnaire survey of mining companies which either use or have used ldc, case studies of three ldc operations, and a questionnaire survey of workers and their spouses at two mines.
The three case study mines were Key Lake uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan (7-days-in/7-days-out cycle), the Lupin gold mine (14-in/14-out) 250 miles northeast of Yellowknife, N.W.T., and the Polaris lead/zinc mine in the High Arctic (63-in/21-out). Ldc employment was initially seen as a method of reducing resource development costs and avoiding the problems associated with remote mining towns. But territorial and provincial governments soon saw its potential for distributing the benefits of industrial employment to the native and non-native residents of existing northern communities. In a number of cases, governments required or encouraged companies to put in place transportation networks linking such settlements to the minesite.
The most northerly fly-in mine is Polaris on Little Cornwallis Island, which employs residents of 12 Arctic communities. However, the total number of Northwest Territories residents involved is relatively small: 33 employees or 13% of the total labor force. Another fly-in mine, Lupin, draws 9% of its labor force from only two territorial communities.
The three Saskatchewan uranium mines are also subject to northern and native hiring requirements and have charter flight schedules in place linking them to a total of 19 northern communities. However, this accounts for only 20% of the total labor force; the rest are flown in from Prince Albert and Saskatoon.
Northern charter networks have boosted native employment. Native workers make up 9% and 28% of the labor forces of N.W.T. and Saskatchewan fly-in mines , respectively. (One reason for the difference may be that the longer mine rotations in the Northwest Territories may conflict with native lifestyles. Also, native hiring policies in the two jurisdictions are not the same.)
Governments and companies have actively pursued northern hiring policies. But when northern residents (both native and non-native) work alongside employees who live and have families in the south, a significant number choose to relocate to the south, research shows.
In other words, while ldc does spread employment benefits throughout the northern region, employees of fly-in mines generally choose to live in the south (known as fly-overs) rather than commute shorter distances from northern communities.
The length of the rotation and the transportation policies of the mining companies significantly influence the residential distribution of the employees. The Detour Lake gold mine, for example, mostly uses a 7-days-on/7-days-off schedule and only flies workers in from the northern mining communities of Cochrane and Timmins. The entire Detour Lake labor force lives in Ontario, and 93% of them reside in the northern part of the province. So there is very little direct loss of employment and income for the region.
By contrast, only 13% of all employees of the two N.W.T. mines live in the Territory. The rest live in Alberta (42%), British Columbia (18%), Ontario (9%), the Atlantic Provinces (8%) and other parts of the country. This indicates that direct and indirect employment and other economic benefits are lost to the south. The same is true, to a lesser extent, in Saskatchewan, where 74% of employees at the four northern ldc mines live in the south.
But there’s more bad news for the northland. Beyond employee fly-over, LDC mines in the north purchase a greater-than-average proportion of supplies and services in the south. Based on a purchasing profile for six operating mines in the N.W.T., ldc operators, on average, buy less than half as much of their supplies and services locally than do the more southerly mines.
The use of ldc has important implications for northern regional development policy. The use of non-local labor, the limited involvement of native labor, and the purchase of most goods and services from southern metropolitan centres are some of the perceived disadvantages of ldc. On the other hand, the system represents a low-cost approach to mineral development for government in that there is little need to provide infrastructure or services at remote locations, and most of the economic and social costs normally associated with closure are avoided.
The studies also show that ldc carries with it many social implications, especially for the 68% of ldc miners who are married. Advantages include the benefits of relatively high wages or salaries plus extended periods of time away from the worksite. Long blocks of leisure time are viewed by Key Lake and Lupin workers as a major attraction. At Polaris, with its long asymmetrical rotation, this is seen as secondary to the income potential. During rest periods, workers take a complete break from work and pursue either leisurely pastimes or secondary paid employment.
Disadvantages include stress and tension caused by partings and reunions; confusing role definition and transitions for those with children; and difficulties in maintaining relationships with friends and other community members. Everyone involved in ldc commented on the stress the system places on marital and other relation
ships. This appears to be a problem especially at Polaris, where 9% of all workers questioned said that they were separated or divorced and that the work system was at least partly to blame. REFERENCES Shrimpton, M. and Storey, K. (1988): The Urban Miner: Long Distance Commuting to Work in the Mining Sector and its Implications for the Canadian North. In Robson, R. (ed), The Commuting Alternative: A Contemporary Response to Community Needs in the Resource Sector, Northern Studies 1, Institute of Urban Studies, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Man. Storey, K. and Shrimpton, M. (1988): Impacts on Labour of Long Distance Labour Commuting in the Mining Sector. Report prepared for Labour Canada under the 1987/1988 Technology Impact Program. August 1988. Storey, K. and Shrimpton, M. (1988): Long Distance Commuting in the Canadian Mining Industry. Report prepared for The Department of Energy, Mines and Resources. Working Paper, Centre for Resource Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ont. (In press). Joyce Musial is a Toronto-based geologist and freelance writer.
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