USW strike at Highland Valley Copper enters second week with no plans to return to bargaining

The strike at Teck Resources Highland Valley Copper (HVC) mine near Logan Lake has passed the one-week mark with no return to the bargaining table in sight, but organizers say the morale among striking workers remains strong.

United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7619 employees walked off the job on Saturday, Oct. 24, unsatisfied with the proposals put forward by Teck.

USW 7619 president Kyle Wolff said the union and the company do not currently have plans to restart negotiations.

“There are a lot of rumors inside suggesting that we had scheduled dates for late week or this week, but we don’t,” said Wolff.

“I don’t know if [Teck] is trying to instill some hope that the suffering the employees are having inside is going to end, because what we’re hearing from inside the mill is it’s not good. It takes 1,280 members to run that place somewhat efficiently and they have less than 300 right now.”

Wolff said there has been little word from Teck to striking workers since they walked off the job.

“There’s zero communication other than to deny our vacation pay, which is a choice the employer made. It’s a financial consequence for striking. It’s a penalty,” said Wolff.

“They could have paid that out, but they chose not to, which is terrible of the employer. They’re holding that ransom against employees. Other than that and getting our tools, those are the only two communications we had from them.”

Despite this, Wolff said the 1,200 striking employees are in good spirits and they have dug in, preparing for a lengthy strike, if necessary.

“While we’re still trying to figure out sorting out the line, we’ve built up some infrastructure up there. We have heating stations, heated, running water, a nice washroom. We have to make it comfortable – it’s up in the high altitude outside of a mine entrance,” said Wolff.

“Morale is high, it really is. People are smiling and singing songs, we had a Halloween party. It was a lot of fun.”

Wolff reiterated what USW 7619 is fighting for is improved safety, working conditions, better wages and a stop to a potential 25 per cent cut to future pension contributions for their employees.

“We get paid pretty well but we work in pretty terrible conditions. We drive 45 minutes each way coming from our houses every morning, working 12-hour days, rotating days and nights. We’re spending $8,000 in fuel per year before maintenance on vehicles,” said Wolff.

“We’re also working on the problem of people not wanting to work at HVC. If we can’t figure that out at the bargaining table, then it’s not going to make itself better. We’re already short 30-to-100 heavy duty mechanics and they’re contracting the work out at three times the cost.”

Teck Resources said said in its third quarter earnings call last week (Oct. 29), that the mine’s production was set to meet the high end of this year’s targeted range of 115,000 tonnes to 135,000 tonnes.

Teck Resources has been asked for a comment.