In a labour negotiation that has avoided the kind of strikes seen at the company’s Elkview and Coal Mountain mines in recent months, Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX:TCK.A, TCK.B; NYSE:TCK) announced this morning that it has arrived at a tentative collective agreement with the workers at Fording River – B.C.’s largest mine.
“It’s a different bargaining unit and it’s a different mine,” Teck’s vice-president of corporate affairs Marcia Smith said, in explaining why the negations with Local 7884 of the United Steelworkers at Fording River have gone more quickly and smoothly than the previous two labour negotiations.
Smith said the strikes at Elkview and Coal Mountain haven’t changed Teck’s bargaining approach.
“Our approach would be exactly the same, which is to sit down with the union at the respective mine to try and negotiate an agreement.”
Smith noted the tentative agreement still needs to be ratified by the union membership.
“The union is unanimously recommending it, but there will be a series of votes for the membership to ratify the agreement and it’s their choice, so we have to go through those next few steps over the coming days.”
Until an agreement has been ratified, she said she could not provide any details about the content of the collective agreement.
On January 30, workers at Teck’s Elview mine in southeastern B.C. went on strike. The mine’s operations didn’t resume until April 8, after the union membership had ratified a new five-year agreement.
Last August, workers at Teck’s Coal Mountain mine in southeastern B.C. formed a picket line after eight months of collective bargaining fell through. (See “Teck fighting operational and labour fires in southeast B.C.”– issue 1086, August 17 to 23).
That strike was settled September 29.