PSAC/BHP strike tips line: Do you know something we should know?

We need information to bring the company back to the bargaining table and to negotiate a fair agreement.

Please contact us if you have any information about the following subjects:

• Did BHP threaten a worker or his family?
• Did BHP offer any special deals to PSAC members?
• Which contractor is doing the work that is normally done by PSAC members?
• Which contractor refused to cross the picket line?
• Is BHP planning to ship workers or material to the Ekati mine site?
• What difficulties is the strike causing to BHP Billiton?

Any other thing you think we should know about the strike, or any questions or concerns you may have, please call: 1-800-661-0870 (PSAC TOLL FREE) or 1-866-223-1699(PSAC/STRIKE TIP LINE)

Important Information to Striking Ekati Diamond Workers: What you need to Know

Financial concerns:

Worried about your truck loan, credit rating, how to make payments, paying the mortgage.

• Call your Employee Assistance Program provider, Northstar at 1-800-268-7708, for six hours of free financial counseling. 
• Strikes are a stressful time and Northstar also offers free counseling for personal issues. 1-800-268-7708
• If you live in subsidized housing and the amount of rent you pay is calculated by your income – contact the union office 1-800-661-0870 or 873-5670 for a letter confirming your strike pay income.
• If you are having trouble getting your bank or loan provider to agree to make payment arrangements let Strike Headquarters know: 1-800-661-0870. 

Strike Pay:

• Make sure you have registered for strike pay and that we have your correct address and phone number. If you have not, call 1-800-661-0870.
• Strike pay Cheques will be issued every Friday and will be mailed or can be picked up at the PSAC office or direct deposit to your account can be set up. 
• To be eligible for strike pay, check with your picket captain or call: 1-800-661-0870.
• There are many different activities you can do to be eligible for strike pay, such as community service, picketing, working in the Strike Headquarters, letter writing, making phone calls etc.

Maintaining Benefits:

• Your Extended Health Care benefits such as dental, hospital expenses, prescription drugs, as defined in your group benefits package from the employer, will be paid for by the union for the duration of the strike at no cost to you.

Hardship Fund:

• The UNW has provided a fund for those who are experiencing a financial emergency. Qualification criteria and application information are available below.

June 23 - PRESS RELEASE

Public Service Alliance of Canada reaches tentative agreement for striking Ekatidiamond mine workers with Ekatiowner BHP Billiton; union recommending yes vote to end strike that began April 7 to win first-ever contract at a Canadian diamond mine

Click the pdf below for details:

REL-Tentative_agreement_June_23-06.pdf

May 26th - Bargaining has resumed!

Bargaining teams for the employer and the Union are meeting in Edmonton. No word has been received to indicate how the meeting is progressing. Read more in the .pdf below.

May_26_rel.pdf

June 28 - PRESS RELEASE

Vote_count_Release_June_28__2006.pdf

June 30 - PRESS RELEASE

PSAC members at Ekati diamond mine vote to ratify tentative agreement with Ekati owner BHP Billiton; strike that began April 7 ends with first-ever union contract at a Canadian diamond mine and significant improvements for workers

REL-Ratification-Yes_June_30-06.pdf

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!

The strike is over and you are going back to work! This is great, but you may be wondering how to adjust from having been a participant in a lengthy strike that high lighted the wrongdoings of your employer and witnessing colleagues who crossed your picket line and made your struggle even more difficult.  The following are some tips to help you make the transition back to a work environment where you will have to work with people you no longer respect.

Click the pdf below:

Return_to_Work_handout_-_CONGRATS.pdf

July 1st

DIAMOND WORKERS LOCAL X3050

RATIFY

FIRST COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT BY 66%

RESULTS ANNOUNCED JUNE 30, 2006 5:00 PM

WHAT’S NEXT?

This is to notify our members that the Employer and the Union will be negotiating a “Return to Work Protocol” early next week. We anticipate that our members will begin returning to the worksite beginning July 12, 2006 in a staggered fashion.

Until you receive notification you should not be returning to the worksite. Once the Return to Work Protocol is negotiated it will be posted on both the PSAC and UNW Website.

Strike pay will continue until it is confirmed when our members will be back on the BHP payroll.

Thank you for your solidarity and sacrifice. You should return to the workplace with your heads held high with a first collective agreement in place that gives you rights, not privileges that can be taken away.

If you have any questions, please call PSAC @ 1-800-661-0870 or 873-5670

June 23, 2006-RATIFICATION OF A TENTATIVE AGREEMENT

A second tentative agreement has been reached by the Diamond Workers Local X3050 Negotiating Team on June 22, 2006, with assistance and direction from the CanadaIndustrial Relations Board (CIRB).

Click the pdf for details:

Ratification_letter_on_PSAC_Wheels__UNW_ltrhead.pdf

June 19th - Messages of support

Messages of support for PSAC members , Local X3050 who have been on strike for more than 3 months at the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories can be sent to a dedicated email address psacnorth@psac.com.

July 7 - RETURN TO WORK PROTOCOL AGREEMENT

Immediately after reaching this Agreement, the Employer will send to each employee’s mailing address on record with the employer a registered letter advising them of the date they are scheduled to return to work for their first rotation and advising of how to contact the employer to confirm their intention to return to work.
Click the pdf below for more details:

Return_to_Work_Protocol0001.pdf

June 23, 2006-COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT - LOCAL X3050

Collective Agreement between BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc. and The Public Service Alliance of Canada, Diamond Workers Local X3050
Click the pdf below for details:

Collective_Agreement.pdf

BHPBilliton plc AGM, London, 26 October 2006

Question from Richard Solly, shareholder

My question concerns the Cerrejon mine in northern Colombia, of which BHPBilliton owns a one-third share. I would like to know the company’s response to a number of recent and planned events concerning the mine and some of its customers. I am sure that the Board is well aware of all of them.

A Witness for Peace delegation from the US and Canada which in August visited communities displaced, or about to be displaced, by the Cerrejon mine, found that many people there had urgent health needs which were not being addressed, which seems odd if the mine is bringing prosperity to the region. A further delegation from US and Canada will visit the area again next week, taking health supplies, visiting communities affected by the mine, meeting with mine management and with workers’ union SINTRACARBON.

Contract negotiations between SINTRACARBON and the company will begin next month. The union is expected to include the demands of displaced communities, and communities facing displacement, in its own bargaining position. Community demands will include collective negotiation, collective relocation and reparations.

There have been protests in recent weeks in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada because local power companies buy coal from the Cerrejon mine. Protesters in New Brunswick called for the power company to pressure the mine to respect the rights of displaced communities. In Nova Scotia they called for the closure of the Trenton power plant. The power plant in Salem, Massachusetts, buys coal from Cerrejon, and both the plant owner and the City Council have called on Cerrejon Coal to respect the rights of displaced communities. In August, the Danish Government announced that further coal purchases from another Colombian coal mine would be suspended until the company involved, US-based Drummond Coal, had established its innocence in the matter of human rights abuses at its operations. At some stage, Cerrejon Coal’s failure to accept the reasonable demands of displaced communities and those facing displacement may affect sales.

Numerous organizations and prominent individuals are calling on the company to honour the rights of both workers and communities, to accept their demands, to ensure that their lives and liberty are respected during and after negotiations, and that in the event of a dispute there will be no military occupation of the mine as there was several times in the 1990s, before BHPBilliton became involved. The list of those supporting worker and community demands and pledging to continue monitoring conditions around the mine includes the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, the United Steelworkers union in the USA, the Mayor and City Council of Salem, Massachusetts, members of the Massachusetts State Legislature and the US House of Representatives, electoral candidates and members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, the Colombia Solidarity Campaign in Britain, and the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents BHPBilliton workers at the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, who have had their own experience of pressure from company management and seem keen to forge bonds with workers and communities in Colombia. Letters from these people will be presented to mine management next week by the delegation from North America and I have copies to give to the Board today.

What is the company’s response?