Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 09/99) - Reflecting on the 11-month Con strike, United Steelworkers of America Local 802 president Cliff Moroz said there is much to be impressed about.

Support from the community was "fantastic," he said.

Moroz said the union is putting together a list of all the businesses that helped.

Local companies "respected" the picket line and would not cross it, he said. Because of that respect, fuel for the mine had to be trucked in from Fort Saskatchewan.

It was also a quiet, orderly strike -- because of "communication" and getting members involved.

"We tried to make everybody a part of it," he added.

"To a member, we had no problems."

Moroz gave Con mine owner Miramar Mining credit for its actions.

The company did not bring in replacement workers and that allowed proper use of the collective bargaining process, Moroz, who came to Yellowknife 16 years ago to work at Con, said.

From an organization perspective, Moroz said support started "right from our head office in Pittsburgh" on through Canadian offices of the union, he said.

During the 11-month strike, the United Steelworkers Union contributed $1.5 million to the Con miners. The money came from the Steelworkers' strike fund, which has about $295 million ready to help members.

The fund belongs to members as they contribute to it through dues, Moroz said.

"If we hadn't got that (money), we couldn't have continued with the strike."

Miners used the strike fund money to help pay utility bills, for food and to keep their homes, Moroz said. Any money that comes to the Local was distributed by a committee.

Currently, the company is calling miners back to work as efforts to get the mine restarted continue.

The Local has about 170 members, Moroz said on Friday. During the strike, Local 802 lost about 28 members who left or found other work. Three members retired.

Moroz said one of the reasons so many members stayed was because they consider Yellowknife home.

The majority of Local 802's members have worked at Con for at least 10 years.

Like Moroz, who has two children, many are raising families here.

That this group plays a significant role in the local economy is not surprising. An average Con miner makes between $60,000 and $80,000 a year.

When it came to going out on strike, Moroz said it was about concessions. The Local was not willing to take concession, he said.

Among the concessions that could have been lost, but were not, are fuel and travel allowances.

The Local also successfully held its position on work hours. The company continues to pay Con miners a premium wage for nights and graveyard shifts and for weekend shifts.

The current three-year collective agreement will take Local 802 into 2002.

Gilles Deslauriers, a Steelworker organizer based in British Columbia, said the United Steelworkers of America is pleased with the way Local 802 conducted itself during the strike.

"That's what we wanted from day one," he said.

With the strike fund behind them, members who are amid labour disputes "don't lose patience," he said.

United Steelworkers of America has about 800,000 members in North America. About 185,000 of the 800,000 are in Canada.

Of the estimated 185,000 Canadian members, about 45,000 are in the Canada's mining industry.