Smelter union rejeacts offer, Brunswick strike continues

Employees at Brunswick Mining & Smelting’s (TSE) zinc mine and smelter near Bathurst, N.B., will remain on strike rather than accept a “final offer” from the company, says Phil Best, a representative of the United Steelworkers of America union. As 85% of Brunswick’s Belledune smelter workers rejected the offer in a secret ballot on April 7, Best said he expected the 1,400 mine employees to vote against it in Bathurst April 11.

Brunswick workers, who have been on strike since last July, are looking at pension plans and hourly wage rates obtained by unions representing employees at Cominco Ltd.’s (TSE) Trail smelter in British Columbia and are saying they should be getting the same rates, Best told IThe Northern Miner.

Despite recent attempts by New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna to settle the dispute, Best said he doesn’t expect the miners to be legislated back to work.

For similar reasons, 400 striking employees at Curragh Resources’ (TSE) lead zinc mine at Faro, Y.T., are also preparing for a lengthy strike, according to union representatives.

As zinc prices have fallen as low as US54 cents recently, Curragh Chairman Clifford Frame said his company cannot afford to pay the kind of wages that Faro employees are asking for.

But the slump in zinc prices hasn’t prevented Curragh from doubling its capital spending projections to $177 million this year, said Kerry Tschritter, president of the United Steelworkers Local 1051.

As there is currently a $5.50-an-hour difference between the base wage rate at Curragh and wages obtained through a settlement at Nerco Minerals’ Con mine near Yellowknife, N.W.T., Tschritter says the union hopes to close the gap.

When Brunswick employees went on strike, the Class 1 wage rate was $13.36 per hour, about $2.20 below the Cominco wage level, while Curragh miners were receiving a minimum of $12.78 per hour compared with $18.33 at the Con mine.