PotashCorp said Aug. 7 that unionized employees at its Allan, Cory, and Patience Lake potash operations commenced strike action, effective 5:30 p.m. (CST) Thursday, Aug. 7. The 487 striking employees are members of United Steelworkers’ (USW) Local 7689 at Allan, USW Local 7458 at Cory, and USW Local 189 at Patience Lake. They are responsible for underground mining operations, as well as milling and shipping activities on the surface. The strike action followed four days of mediation that was unable to resolve key contract issues, primarily centered on profit-sharing demands by the union. To date, PotashCorp said the union has refused to present the company’s final offer to its membership for a vote.
“While we are disappointed by the decision of union leadership to strike, we remain committed to operating with a long-term view,” said PotashCorp President and CEO Bill Doyle. “We will manage our assets responsibly and protect our future cost structure so that we remain competitive within the global arena. We have offered a top-end contract in the Saskatchewan market that will make our employees the highest-paid miners in the North American potash industry. We believe our offer rewards our workers’ important contributions, while protecting the future of our company for all stakeholders, including our employees.”
The bargaining units representing unionized employees at each facility provided strike notice to the company July 23, 2008, to which PotashCorp responded by immediately providing lockout notice. Provision of these notices enabled both sides to initiate strike action or lockout 48 hours after notices were served. Previous contracts expired April 30, 2008. PotashCorp says it has maintained continuous communication with the USW and the lines of communication remain open.
The Cory mine came back up from summer maintenance July 27 and Allan is due back up Aug. 10. Patience Lake, however, is down for maintenance through Oct. 4. Because of solution mining, Patience Lake can only produce during colder months – October-May.
PotashCorp said the three mines represent about 30 percent of its capacity. Production in 2007 at the three was .768 million mt KCL Cory, .257 million mt KCL Patience Lake, and 1.744 million mt KCL Allan. PotashCorp has invested C$1.11 billion for an expansion at Cory, due in 2012. Some C$210 million was spent to expand Allan in 2007; another C$350 million is being spent at the mine for an expansion to be completed in 2012. A C$110 million expansion at Patience Lake is slated to be complete by fourth quarter 2008.
PotashCorp says that over the three-year life of its proposed collective agreement, pay would increase to the workers by 27-35.6 percent. PotashCorp said the proposed journeyman’s earnings would go from $84,553 in 2007 to $113,160 in 2010.
For 2007, PotashCorp said the average earnings at the three mines for union hourly workers including is $72,665 at Patience Lake, $80,253 Cory, and $81,294 for Allan. Average hourly wages as of April 2008 at the three sites are $29.91, $28.91 and $29.17, respectively. Average overtime worked at the three in 2007 was 3.7 hours per week, 5.8 hours, and 6.5 hours, respectively.
Other features include an increased pension multiplier, enhanced contracting-out language, four hours of guaranteed, scheduled overtime under certain conditions, and for hourly workers increased shift premiums, clothing allowance, annual vacation bonus, and return-to-work bonus for weeks of layoff.
For more information, see www.PotashCorp.com.