Yes or no?

By CHANSE WATSON

Hagadone News Network

MULLAN — The longest mining strike in Silver Valley history may finally end with today’s deadine for union members to cast their votes on a new labor contract.

Miners of the United Steelworkers Union 5114 chapter have until today to mail in their votes, deciding whether or not to accept a tentative labor contract agreed upon by their leadership and Coeur d’Alene-based Hecla Mining Company.

If accepted by a simple majority vote, USW 5114 miners will be on their way back to work at the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan after being on strike for more than 1,000 days.

The tentative labor contract agreement was publicly announced on Nov. 7 by Hecla President and CEO Phillips S. Baker Jr. during the company’s third quarter financial results conference call.

“While neither side got all that it wanted, we think this agreement is consistent with agreements that other North American mines (have), unionized or not, and puts the Lucky Friday on a path toward long-term success,” he said.

Available on Hecla’s website for personal viewing, the 30-page tentative agreement covers a myriad of labor items, many of which have been in contention between the two sides since before the strike began.

Among the contested issues, Baker mentioned a few during the conference call that Hecla conceded on to make this most recent deal happen.

“The quid pro quo that we put to them was generally a better compensation package for them, particularly for the skill trades,” he said. “We had a lot of difficulty attracting skill tradesmen; this helps alleviate that. That would be the primary thing, but we ended up giving concessions on holidays and medical benefits. There’s just a variety of things.”

According to Article 6 wages clause in the tentative agreement, the base pay for all employees (regardless of tech level or years employed) would be higher than what was pitched by Hecla on Jan. 11, 2017, in their “last, best, and final” offer.

For example, the Jan. 11 offer had a T1 Entry Laborer making a base wage of $17 an hour in the first three years on the job. The newest agreement has that same T1 Entry Laborer making $19.85 an hour in their first year, $20.20 in the second year and $20.50 in the third. While the specific amount of increased wages shown in this particular example does not apply to the other Tech Levels (i.e. raise amounts differing from position to position), it does reflect the general increase in base pay across the board.

As for the issue of vacations and holidays, the tentative contract has some noteworthy differences from its “last, best, and final” predecessor.

The biggest change involves additional “length of employment” levels that determine how many vacation days are allotted per year. For example, after one year of employment, an employee would be allotted 81 hours of vacation to use in the second year under the new deal. After three years, vacation hours would jump to 114 to use in their fourth and fifth years, and again to 131 hours after six years.

The earlier contract proposal offered 80 hours of vacation after one year and did not increase again (to 120 hours) until completion of the fifth year. The next increase (to 160 hours) wouldn’t have been attainable until after completion of year 10.

The new deal essentially lowers the amount of time needed to get more vacation hours across the board, capping out on both at 30 years or more of employment.

While a description of medical plans is included in both the new tentative agreement and the “last, best, and final” version, this issue was actually one of the few agreed upon by both parties long ago.

By far, the biggest sticking point in negotiations has been the job selection system in the mine.

Until this most recent tentative agreement was reached, USW 5114 leadership refused to sign anything that did not have the “bid system” included in it. Under this system, senior miners at Lucky Friday essentially had the power to assign personnel in the mine. Senior miners had the ability to decide which stope they would work in and with whom they would work in that stope. If a miner wished to change jobs or locations, the decision fell to the senior miners — not management.

According to the tentative agreement, though, Hecla’s “progression system” will be used at the Lucky Friday going forward if it is approved by the USW 5114 membership.

The progression system would allow management — and not the senior miners — to decide who works with whom and where. Under this system, Luke Russell, Hecla’s vice president of External Affairs, explained in a previous interview that employees would receive higher wages when they progress to higher Technician levels by increasing their skills.

Essentially, the progression system puts more emphasis on skill than time employed.

The company and union have also agreed on separate items that addresses the process of returning to work, future conduct of both sides regarding the strike, treatment for conduct of employees during the strike and a ratification bonus.

In a nutshell, Hecla and USW 5114 would agree to essentially “forgive and forget.”

After ratification, both sides would “refrain from public disparagement of each other” and promise no adverse action for conduct during the strike. (For example, union miners could not be punished for striking, and current employees could not be punished for crossing the picket line.)

Hecla would be responsible for rolling out the year-long ramp-up of the Lucky Friday, which involves contacting employees, assigning positions, setting up an inspection of the mine and conducting physicals. As an incentive to pass the tentative agreement, the company has also agreed to provide all USW 5114 Lucky Friday employees on the current employment roster with a $1,000 ratification bonus. This means that even if a former employee does not plan on coming back to the Lucky Friday but is still on the roster, he or she will receive the bonus if the agreement passes.

The union, meanwhile, would agree to remove all picket material that was placed during the strike, cease its corporate-level protests and waive the provision in the agreement for up to 60 days that restricts supervisors and other employees from doing bargaining unit work.

The tentative agreement documents relating to the Lucky Friday Mine labor strike are available for viewing at www.hecla-mining.com.