Yellowknife (Jul 05/06) - Striking Ekati mine workers voted sixty-six per cent in favour of ratifying their first collective agreement last week, bringing the 11-week strike to an end.

Negotiated by the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the ratification vote means workers could be back on the job site this week says Union of Northern Workers President Todd Parsons, who announced the deal at UNW's Yellowknife office last Friday.

Todd Parsons

The deal - members' first since the Ekati mine went into operation in 1998 - provides annual salary increases, paid personal leave days based on length of service, retention and back to work bonuses.

However, PSAC was, "Unsuccessful in obtaining any language with respect to seniority issues," as they pertained to future layoffs said Parsons.

Throughout negotiations, BHP maintained that a seniority clause in any new contract would compromise Impact and Benefit Agreements it signed with territorial and aboriginal governments.

As well, the union lost its bid to fine members who crossed the picket line during the strike. Parsons says it was due to a Canadian Industrial Relations Board order and not something that was negotiated with BHP Billiton.

The UNW wouldn't make public the number of its 375 Ekati members who voted to ratify the deal.

"We're pleased with the numbers that turned out but it serves no interest to the general public to provide those," said Parsons.

During the strike, union and BHP Billiton figures on how many workers had crossed the picket lines were at odds. According to BHP, more than 40 per cent of its unionized workforce had returned to the job; a figure both PSAC and UNW disputed.

"What I can say is that during the strike our numbers were not consistent at any time with those of BHP," Parsons went on, pointing to UNW's strike pay figures, he insists did not gel with the mineral company's claims.

A partial victory for the union was a "closed shop" clause that requires new Ekati employees from this day forward to be a member of the union. Those already employed will be given the choice.

Though not the first industry collective agreement negotiated by PSAC, Parsons says it was the first such deal signed for workers in the diamond industry and that the alliance would be looking at unionizing other such operations in the future.

"We're very pleased that our employees have accepted the first collective agreement," said Richard Morland, vice-president of operations at the Ekati mine.

Morland expects that employees will return to site in a "staggered manner" beginning in mid-July.