Royal determined to stay operating as violence erupts on

Some union workers at the Giant gold mine near Yellowknife, N.W.T., are crossing the picket line to join contract miners and Royal Oak Mines (TSE) staff at the mine operation which is running round-the-clock at about 1,250 tons per day.

Royal Oak has already brought in about 75 contract miners to replace union employees who went on strike May 23 after rejecting a tentative agreement unanimously recommended by its bargaining committee. The 230 union workers, members of the Canadian Association of Smelter and Allied Workers (CASAW), Local No. 4., no longer have a contract with Royal Oak.

Emotions are running high on the picket lines outside the mine site where a number of hostile confrontations between strikers and replacement workers have occurred. One RCMP officer was hit across the back with a baseball bat when he and two other officers tried to investigate reports of trespassing. Police, who had been pelted with rocks during the strike, fired warning shots in the air during the incident. Police also expect to lay charges related to a number of arson fires that have occurred since the strike began. Officials from the territorial government recently tried to intervene in the dispute by suggesting that Royal Oak remove its replacement workers and continue negotiations with the striking workers.

“We flatly rejected the suggestion to remove our replacement miners,” said Royal Oak President Margaret Witte. “We have every legal right to do what we are doing. Our focus is to keep production going and costs down so the company can be profitable in a time of low gold prices.”

A mediator in the dispute has been appointed, and Witte said the company is prepared to listen, “and negotiate in good faith,” to the union’s proposals. But she also made it clear the offer put on the table before the old contract expired was the company’s final offer.

“We have nothing more to give,” Witte said, noting that if a new contract is not worked out, Royal Oak would simply continue to use replacement workers. But union officials, who conceded that some union members were indeed working in the mine, told The Northern Miner they expect a proposal to Royal Oak will be put together shortly.

Monetary issues do not appear to be the major stumbling block; union officials say they have the most to lose “through the change in contract language.”

As an example, Royal Oak’s offer proposed that an employee would have to show “skill and ability” to be re-hired or bumped to another position, rather than just prove he is “capable.” The monetary issues mainly involve changes to overtime pay requirements.