January 7, 2011 - Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

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Protecting the Labour Rights of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in a Globalized World LocalFactors–TheRemoteWorkplace It is the view of our Federation that the location of Voisey’s Bay, a remote workplace, accessible by air or sea, just south of Nain and north of Happy-Valley Goose Bay, has been a contributing factor in this dispute. The fact that the mining corporation could easily transport replacement workers into the remote site without having to physically cross the USW’s picket line, set up in the community of Happy Valley-Goose Bay was just another card stacked in favour of the company. It rendered the workers’ picket line ineffective. It is important for this Inquiry to consider a scenario with this same company attempting similar actions at its Long Harbour operations in which case replacement workers would have been forced to cross a “real picket line” and where the scrutiny of the media and therefore the public would be much more intense. Knowing how volatile these situations can become, there is a strong likelihood the story of this dispute would be quite different than the one that has evolved in the past 17 months. Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour Page 41
Protecting the Labour Rights of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in a Globalized World FactorswhichhaveLedtotheExistingLabour ManagementRelationsClimate While the Federation is not party to the labour-management relationship at the Voisey’s Bay workplace, we do have a number of comments to make with respect to this dispute and how certain conditions and actions once taken will result in an acrimonious and damaged labour-management relationship. The Federation has already addressed some of these factors throughout our submission including our contention that a difficult and acrimonious relationship between the employer and the union arose from the get go – during the organizing drive in the workplace - and from all appearances it seems this relationship never improved. Indeed, it is evident that it has only worsened. Negotiations for a first contract ended in a 16-week strike in 2006. As in is the case in this strike, the employer used replacement workers. This did not bode well for building a respectful labour-management relationship. The fact that the employer, quite a profitable employer, went to the bargaining table in 2009 demanding such concessions has also contributed to this current labourmanagement relations climate. The tactics engaged by the employer as outlined above in the most current labour dispute including frivolous and intimidating law suits against workers and locally elected union representatives and the use of scab labour (pitting worker against worker and neighbour against neighbour) have contributed to what can, at best, be described as a severely damaged labour-management relationship. The fact that the strike lingered past the one-year mark before the provincial government acted to appoint an outside mediator allowed for the dysfunctional relationship to worsen. The fact the government did not act sooner, that it refused to ban scab labour, was viewed by many workers as a government that was siding with the corporation. Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour Page 42
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January 7, 2011 - Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

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