Lockout: Hundreds of miners turned away from U.S. Borax

[Winter]

Lockout: Hundreds of miners turned away from U.S. Borax



BY GRETCHEN WENNER, Californian staff writer
[email protected] ([email protected]) | Sunday, Jan 31 2010 08:49 PM



Deputies in protective gear turned up Sunday morning as hundreds of miners were locked out of the U.S. Borax facility in Boron, the tiny town in southeastern Kern County that has its roots inextricably tied up with the mine's.
About 560 workers at the giant open-pit operation received final paychecks --including accrued vacation hours -- after managers and security guards turned workers away starting at 7 a.m.

Three bus loads of replacement workers and company supervisors took over operations. The number of buses is expected to increase in coming weeks as additional staffers are brought in. The workers -- all American, mine officials say -- will continue to be bused in for safety reasons.

The lockout was the dreaded result of unsuccessful negotiations that have been in play since a union contract expired in November.

"We really didn't want it to come to this," said Susan Keefe, a Colorado spokeswoman for Rio Tinto, the London-based firm that owns the U.S. Borax mine.

Keefe said the company ran out of options because negotiations with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 30 were "just not getting anywhere."
A quick resolution doesn't seem to be on the horizon. Mine officials are now focused on ramping up production and filling orders from countries around the world.

"We're not going to be back at the bargaining table for a while," Keefe said.
About 140 managers and supervisors at the mine are not affected by the lockout.
Craig Merrilees, a union spokesman from the Bay Area, said Rio Tinto wanted to "destroy" good jobs by chopping them up into part-time positions without benefits.

"That's their primary agenda," Merrilees said, dismissing the company's offer of a pay increase, signing bonus and other items as " a distraction and a decoy."

No one from the local union's Boron office could be reached by phone Sunday for comment.
Average pay for the affected miners is $26 an hour. Those wages have been a major source of income in Boron since the borate mine opened in the 1920s. Boron started out as a "single-man's camp," county records show, and like any good mining town boasted a saloon before permanent housing went up.

These days, Boron's major employers are U.S. Borax, Edwards Air Force Base and a nearby solar plant. During the 2000 census, the most recent federal data available, the town's population totaled 2,025.
A violent 1974 strike left scars so deep that deputies Sunday showed up in riot gear, just in case.
"In '74 it was really ugly," said Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood.

Deputies were overwhelmed and forced to retreat. Sunday's lockout appears to be going peacefully, Youngblood said, but sheriff's officials will keep a close eye since Boron is remote and they want to respond quickly if the mood changes.
The five-month strike in '74 started out rough. A guard shack and personnel office were burned down the first night. Rail cars were set ablaze, people shot at and one of two power lines to the mine severed.
Dean Gehring, the mine's general manager of operations, said there was no hint of violent reaction to Sunday's lockout.
Ryan Couch, 33, grew up in Boron, graduated from Boron High and is researching the 1974 strike for a book: his father and grandfathers were on different sides of the picket line 36 years ago.

Couch, who's now a corrections officer in Hanford, was in town for Sunday's lockout. He saw the "huge" line of workers picking up checks from the back of a van in 37-degree weather. He saw the signs up and down Borax Road, which connects the mine to Highway 58.
Workers told him they' been prepared for supervisors to operate the mine but "were not expecting (replacement) workers from out of state" to get bused in.

"Reality is setting in," Couch said.



http://www.bakersfield.com/archive/x908515564/g13e000de0d09e36dc0e3fe9657d38d7974400f79d8b092.jp g
Kern County deputies stand together to block members of Local 30 from returning to work at US Borax.
http://www.bakersfield.com/archive/x1046989373/g13e00085b335fe57b0282b1e8ac4d6077fd07381fb255d.jp g
Members of Local 30 receive final pay warrant from US Borax.
http://www.bakersfield.com/archive/x1046989371/g13e000cc6c2cc634afbba27300be76aeec805c6e80150f.jp g
Members of Local 30 stand near entrance to US Borax waiting for news of the lock out.
http://www.bakersfield.com/archive/x908515562/g13e000eeb4df416c07c4605fbc9e1a1bdb95d4499c4a96.jp g
Members of Local 30 receive final pay warrant from US Borax.
http://www.bakersfield.com/archive/x1046989369/g13e000fad11664cf196fdac547f32f9e09f1142bf0ac96.jp g
Members of Local 30 stand in front of Kern County Deputies demanding to work.

[Communist]

.

After union members at the Rio Tinto mine
in Kern County overwhelmingly reject a contract offer
that would have changed seniority rules, the company
brings in replacement workers.

Borax mine workers locked out in labor dispute (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boron1-2010feb01,0,362036.story)

By David Kelly
February 1, 2010


The giant Rio Tinto Borax mine in Boron locked out
about 540 hourly workers Sunday after the employee
union refused to ratify a new labor contract.

The lockout began at 7 a.m. as miners showed up outside
the gates and were told they couldn't come in.
Replacements were brought in to do their jobs.

"It's obviously a drastic measure and I am well aware
of the fact that this has very real consequences to our
employees. It's not a bully tactic, but it's our only
real alternative," said Dean Gehring, general manager
of the mine.

"We cannot continue operating with this threat of a
strike hanging over our head," he said. "I pray this
will go fast, but I'm preparing for it to go long."

The Boron operation is the largest open-pit mine in
California and the second largest borax mine on Earth.
The Kern County community and the mine have been
closely tied for generations, but increasing labor
tensions have threatened to sever those bonds.

Many residents work at the mine and fear a strike or
extended lockout could cripple the city of 2,000.

"I think it will be pretty traumatic," said Jim
Freeman, 54, who has worked at the mine for 31 years.
"I think the company had the impression we were going
to roll over and let them feed us the poison."

Rio Tinto, a London-based mining giant with operations
on five continents, has been negotiating with the
International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 30,
which represents the employees, since September. The
company says it has lost 25% of its global borax share
and needs to make changes to stay competitive.

It has offered the union a 2% wage increase, an annual
performance bonus, a $4,000 signing bonus and 80%
coverage of healthcare costs. In return, Rio wants to
hire more nonunion employees and, more importantly,
change the seniority system so that it can promote
people based on skill and performance rather than just
years of service. The company threatened a lockout if
there was no deal by Sunday.

"We are asking for a lot of changes and we know that,"
Gehring said. "Some employees think the flexibility we
are looking for will take away seniority."

He added that running the business with a contingency
workforce means the company will not be negotiating
"any time in the near future."

The union says the proposed seniority changes will lead
to nepotism.

Members met Saturday night to discuss the proposals.

"After hours of analyzing and evaluating the contract,
every one of the 500 workers at the meeting voted no,"
said union spokesman Craig Merrilees. "The contract
would allow the right to discriminate and practice
cronyism when it comes to deciding who gets a raise,
who gets overtime and who gets training opportunities."

Workers spent much of Sunday organizing committees to
ensure locked-out employees have enough food and basic
necessities for the days or weeks ahead. Calls have
come in from around the state offering donations,
officials said.

"People here are tough and willing to see this through
to the end," Merrilees said. "It's not just about Rio
Tinto but all the companies doing this to people across
the country. In this little town people are drawing the
line."



Copyright (c) 2010, The Los Angeles Times

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