PotashCorp Announces Strike by Unionized Workers at Allan, Cory and Patience Lake
Friday, August 8th 2008
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (PotashCorp) announced that unionized employees at its Allan Division, Cory Division and Patience Lake Division potash operations commenced strike action, effective 5:30 p.m. (CST) today. The 487 striking employees are members of United Steelworkers’ (USW) Local 7689 at Allan, USW Local 7458 at Cory and USW Local 189 at Patience Lake and are responsible for underground mining operations as well as milling and shipping activities on the surface.
The strike action followed four days of mediation that was unable to resolve key contract issues, primarily centered on profit-sharing demands by the union. To date, the union has refused to present the company’s final offer to its membership for a vote.
“While we are disappointed by the decision of union leadership to strike, we remain committed to operating with a long-term view,” said PotashCorp President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Doyle. “We will manage our assets responsibly and protect our future cost structure so that we remain competitive within the global arena. We have offered a top-end contract in the Saskatchewan market that will make our employees the highest-paid miners in the North American potash industry. We believe our offer rewards our workers’ important contributions, while protecting the future of our company for all stakeholders, including our employees.”
The bargaining units representing unionized employees at each facility provided strike notice to the company on July 23, 2008, to which PotashCorp responded by immediately providing lockout notice. Provision of these notices enabled both sides to initiate strike action or lockout 48 hours after notices were served. Previous contracts expired April 30, 2008. PotashCorp has maintained continuous communication with the USW and the lines of communication remain open.
Please see www.potashcorp.com/updates, for additional information
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. is the world’s largest fertilizer enterprise producing the three primary plant nutrients and a leading supplier to three distinct market categories: agriculture, with the largest capacity in the world in potash, second largest in nitrogen and third largest in phosphate; animal nutrition, with the world’s largest capacity in phosphate feed ingredients; and industrial chemicals, as the largest global producer of industrial nitrogen products and the world’s largest capacity for production of purified industrial phosphoric acid.
