Union wants new deal
Cassandra Kyle
Saskatchewan News Network
Friday, March 07, 2008
SASKATOON -- It's time for underground potash miners extracting the valuable commodity for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan to have their day in the sun, union leaders say.
On April 30, collective bargaining agreements expire at the company's Cory, Allan and Patience Lake mines, which together employ nearly 600 people, according to 2006 figures from PotashCorp. Close to 500 of those workers, according to United Steelworkers (USW) District 3, are represented by the collective agreement.
The union wants more recognition for mine employees under a new deal, said USW staff representative Mike Park. After PotashCorp's stellar 2007, in which the company recorded a net income of $1.1 billion, the union feels higher wages for the men and women who work for the fertilizer giant is a reasonable request.
"They're the ones who have done the work underground and on the surface to produce the product that's been sent around the world and made this company the money that it has," Park said about PotashCorp staff. "It's their day, that's really what it comes down to."
Park and PotashCorp representatives say details about negotiations will not be discussed with the media.
"It's not unusual when we get to bargaining ... to sit down and look at the economy of the day to see where we're going to go. It's not a question of deciding that this is a time to rape the company, but there has to be a balance and that's what we're looking for," Park said.
Mining potash was once a sought-after job, say bargaining members who are meeting in Saskatoon this week to discuss the agreements. Now, it's difficult to attract new employees when wages are higher at other companies where workers don't spend their days 1,000 metres underground.
"If companies want to be able to attract quality people into quality jobs, you have to live in the marketplace, and the marketplace today is pretty rich," he said. "It's a labourers' market right now."
Both USW and PotashCorp believe negotiations will not affect production at the mines.
Park said the relationship between the parties is "incredibly mature," but the USW will not speed up negotiations to meet the April 30 expiration of the current agreement.
If April 30 passes without an agreement, safeguards will be put in place to protect employees, he said, and negotiations will continue.
April is traditionally a crucial month for shipping to the United States corn belt and overseas markets, and is one of the busiest months for loading trains at the potash mines.
PotashCorp spokeswoman Rhonda Speiss couldn't speak specifically to the negotiations, but said the company values its employees.
