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Vol.63/No.38       November 1, 1999 
 
 
Wyoming soda ash miners reject contract over 12-hour shifts  
{front page} 
 
 
BY DAMMON BERECELLI 
GREEN RIVER, Wyoming—Miners who are members of United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 15320 overwhelming rejected a contract offer from General Chemical Soda Ash Partners, Inc. on September 30.

The proposal, which included a proposal to go from the current eight-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts and wage increases of only 2 percent a year over three years, was voted down by a vote of 348–61.

The current contract expires November 14. The company and the union scheduled more negotiations to start October 21.

Rufus Spann, a continuous miner operator who has worked at General Chemical for 23 years, explained that 12-hour shifts were the big issue for most miners. According to him, the company proposed a "voluntary" 12-hour shift schedule, but "you know damn well, as soon as you vote that in, it'll be mandatory."

General Chemical mines and processes trona, otherwise known as soda ash, a mineral used to make baking soda and in the manufacture of glass. It is one of five trona mines in southwestern Wyoming that together account for 90 percent of U.S. production of the mineral. The five facilities together employ about 3,000 workers.

Although Wyoming is a so-called "right to work state," union membership at the General Chemical mine is close to 100 percent. General Chemical has around 430 hourly employees. The only other union trona mine in the area, FMC, is also organized by the USWA and employs approximately 1,000 workers. General Chemical is currently the only soda ash mine in the area where the entire workforce works eight-hour shifts. Other mines work a combination of 8-, 10- and 12-hour shifts.

Other issues besides hours and pay included job combinations and retirement pensions. The big majority of miners have worked at General Chemical for more than 20 years, although miners reported that the company has hired about 30 workers, most of them young, in the last two years. Miners at General Chemical make $1-2 an hour less than some other local mines, both union and nonunion. Spann said, "They have been taking away from us for a long time," and noted that General Chemical is the only trona mine without a bus to take its employees to the mine site.

USWA Local 15320 struck General Chemical for four months in 1993. Several miners described the strike as a militant, sometimes violent struggle. The company hired a few hundred replacement workers during the strike, most of them from Mexico.  
 
 
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