Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Last miners' union in New Mexico 'Salt of the Earth' county votes to end participation


It was an historic vote. The United Steelworkers Union members at Chino Mine voted against participating in the union. Grant County, once famous for its union activity, will no longer have union representation at any mine within the county lines. Officials at Freeport McMoRan, Inc. confirmed miners at Chino Mine voted 236 to 83 against participating in the union in last week's decertification election. Eric Kinneberg, director of external communications for Freeport McMoRan, said the company was informed by the National Labor Relations Board on Sept. 18 that the union lost and the company won. "We respect our employees' right to choose their representation in the workplace and are pleased in the high level of employee participation in the process and their focus on safety during this period," Kinneberg said via email about the vote. The decertification vote was brought about by one man who began a petition to end the union. That employee got 30 percent of the union members' signatures on the petition, which allowed the petitioner to bring the issue to a vote for all union employees. The union's contract was set to expire in early November, making this an "open-ended" period in which a decertification election could determine whether union employees would continue to be represented...more

No comments: