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Dominion Diamond May Face Union Wrath Over Flights Issue
Sep 14, 2014 10:12 AM
By Ronen Shnidman
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RAPAPORT... Dominion Diamond Corporation has said that it will stop flying employees from Edmonton to its Ekati diamond mine to reduce costs, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported. However, union representatives may be setting up for a fight on the matter.
Companies that operate diamond mines deep into Canada's Northwest Territories have been flying workers in and out for years, according to the CBC. But Dominion Diamond is allegedly preparing to stop offering special charter flights to workers at its Ekati mine next spring.
A Dominion Diamond Corporation official told the CBC that the company would consider answering questions related to the charter flights in greater detail later this fall.
The mining company will reportedly continue offering flight services from northern communities, but workers who live further south will have to make their own flight arrangements to pick-up points starting this spring.
Todd Parsons, the president of the Union of Northern Workers that represents 450 workers at Ekati, told the CBC that the cancellation of charter flights for workers will become a major sticking point. Parsons said that workers from southern Canada were hired in Edmonton and expected the company to handle their transportation.
The union expects to broach the topic in the collective bargaining scheduled to take place in February 2015.
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Tags:
Dominion Diamond, ekati, labor dispute, northwest territories, Ronen Shnidman, union, Union of Northern Workers
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