Cliffs workers still off job

Rick Garrick — Wawatay News

Cliffs Natural Resources workers from the Ring of Fire mineral exploration area were still off the job as of June 30 but plans are being made to meet with company representatives.

“On June 16, representatives from Cliffs management visited the camp and offered us a package that would effectively make us all seasonal workers on the organizational chart, in exchange for EI (Employment Insurance) benefits,” said Ralph Baxter, a Çliffs worker. “This means we will become Cliffs employees with no benefits and we will make a mere $140 per day for a 14-hour day. This is less than a McDonald’s wage and is a complete insult to us and our families who are working under these extreme conditions.”

The group of about two dozen First Nation and non-Native workers walked off the job-site over the June 18-19 weekend as a protest over poor wages, deteriorating working conditions and inadequate health and safety infrastructure, according to a release they issued.

Cliffs is one of the three main companies working in the Ring of Fire mineral exploration area, which has been a hotbed of mineral exploration activity in recent years and is home to a potentially large deposit of chromite, a mineral used to make stainless steel. The area is located in the James Bay lowlands near the traditional territories of Webequie and Marten Falls.

The workers said health and safety issues were a serious concern due to an absence of infrastructure for helicopters to land at the camp in the evenings in case of accident or illness.

“We are literally putting our lives in their hands every time we board a plane to go to work and they will not respond to any requests for support or offer us better pay,” said Jesse Nadon, another Cliffs worker.

A Cliffs media spokeswoman said the company would respond to questions on the issue but had not done so by press time.

Workers described an average week’s work as moving out bulk samples of chromite, weighing up to 200 tons or 400,000 pounds. The work involves manually loading rocks into 15-gallon pails and onto airplanes.

Workers leave their families and live in the isolated camp for up to four weeks at a time.

“We understand that the conditions in mining camps will be basic but there is a common industry expectation that workers are compensated and paid accordingly based on the employment conditions,” said Ralph Baxter. “This is not the case here. Cliffs offers no isolation pay, inadequate travel pay, no employment benefits and offers poor bonus incentives. We are without question the poorest paid workers in the mining industry.”

The Cliffs workers had asked all First Nation communities and municipalities in northwestern Ontario to support their protest