http://themilitant.com/2017/8114/811454.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 81/No. 14 April 10, 2017
Idaho miners strike against union busting, for safety
BY EDWIN FRUIT
MULLAN, Idaho — As the strike against the Hecla-owned Lucky Friday
silver mine here enters its third week, United Steelworkers Local 5114
members are piling up wood for the picket line burn barrels, preparing
for the long haul. The mine bosses refuse to negotiate.
“What they really want is to bust the union, to get things back to where
they were in the 1930s,” Ron Pearce, who has worked at the mine for 38
years, told Mary Martin, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of
Seattle March 26 on the picket line. “We have already sacrificed and
given a whole lot and now they want new sacrifices. But we have built up
a strong union here.”
The union contract expired in May last year and the company offered a
“last and final” concession-filled offer. Hecla bosses told the union it
would impose these changes on the workers March 13. The workers then
went on strike that day.
The changes demanded by the company include dangerous loss of workers’
right to choose their jobs and crews; loss of production bonuses key to
their yearly income; recall rights from layoffs and mine closures
slashed from three years to three months; and the right of the company
to raise premiums and deductibles for health insurance at any time.
The company’s decision to take over crew assignments is a major reason
for the strike. “We work in very dangerous conditions, where everybody’s
got to watch each other’s back,” Phil Epler, the local union president,
told the Spokesman-Review.
Company spokesperson Luke Russell told the paper the change is needed in
order to “lower production costs.”
The miners work more than a mile underground where the deep shafts are
prone to rock bursts, which can cause the walls and roof to collapse.
Two miners, Larry Marek and Brandon Gray, were killed in separate mine
accidents in 2011. Federal officials held the company responsible for
both deaths. A month after Gray was killed, another rock burst injured
seven more miners. The Mine Safety and Health Administration ordered the
mine closed for a year for a long list of repairs.
“Our main thing is safety,” Epler said. “We’ve had enough bad things
happening at the Lucky Friday.”
“There was no question we had to go on strike,” said Joe Ploharz, 28, in
the union hall. “We’re exposed to rock dust, road dirt and bio diesel
fuel.”
“The bio diesel fuel peels paint off the underground equipment,” another
miner said. “Makes you wonder what it’s doing to us.”
“Some of the older miners were worried about us younger miners going
into the strike. But we’re all here,” said Chris Lockard, 24. “To beat
this as a small community we have to become as one. A handful of us
picketing is not enough.
“We need to show the company that it’s not just affecting 250 miners but
its affecting thousands — our family members and others in the area,” he
said. “I will stand on the picket line as long as needed.”
Solidarity from the community and other unions is strong. Money has come
from USW Local 338 at Kaiser Aluminum in Spokane and USW Local 175 at
Port Townsend Paper, which donated $5,000. Miners said both the Teamster
truck drivers who haul rock waste from the plant and the union UPS
drivers are refusing to cross the picket lines.
“We had a strike last year that brought our people together and we are
still strong,” said Jerry Womble, member of Machinists Local 86 at
Triumph Composite Systems in Spokane. “Once we found out these miners
were on strike we knew we would help. This comes from our own experience
of getting support. We found that the first couple of weeks on strike
and off work is fun and exciting. After that it gets serious and the
support is really needed.”
“All the wives back the men and our families. We stand beside and help
fight,” said Tiffany Talley, an office worker and one of a number of
miners’ family members on the picket line. Her husband Beau Talley works
as a truck driver at the mine. “When I’m not at work I am down here and
I bring him my son to teach him to help daddy win.”
Visiting with workers door to door in Mullan, Martin met Becky Altman
and her neighbor Ian Wolford. Altman is a retired union road maintenance
worker who has a son on strike at Lucky Friday, a daughter who works as
a geologist in the nearby Galena Mine, and a son-in-law who is a gold
miner in Alaska. “Miners need to be supported,” she said. “We see
corporate greed at work — from here to Standing Rock.”
Martin said she will use her campaign to win solidarity for the miners
wherever she goes.
“I definitely support the miners 100 percent,” said Wolford, who works
in a fiberglass factory. “I’d say everyone in their right mind should
support the miners because we are all affected by what happens here.”
Messages and donations can be sent to: USW Local 5114, P.O. Box 427,
Mullan, Idaho 83846. More information can be found on the local’s
Facebook page.
Related articles:
On the Picket Line
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home