Union rejects Hecla's 'last, best and final'

Lucky Friday Miners, a part of the United Steelworker’s (USW) Union local 5114 chapter, have voted to reject Hecla Mining’s latest proposed contract.

By a unanimous vote of 222 against to zero for, the latest hopes of a new contract between the miners and Hecla vanished in the Mullan Pavilion Sunday night where the voting took place.

What Hecla described as their “last, best, and final” offer to the Union, the doomed proposed contract was dismissed by the miners after they voiced several concerns with it in the weeks since it was introduced on Jan. 11.

Many of these disagreements concern the silver premium trigger, overtime, the replacement of the current bid system for jobs, medical premiums, recall rights, and vacation days to name a few.

Hecla’s Vice President of External Affairs, Luke Russell, expressed the company’s regret of the outcome of the vote.

“We are disappointed in USW Local 5114’s vote to reject our final offer,” Russell said. “We continue to believe that our offer provides competitive terms and is in the best interests of the Lucky Friday Mine and our employees—both now and in the long term.”

USW Local 5114 President Phil Epler applauded the miner’s solidarity after the vote and is hopeful that Hecla will “come back to the table” to negotiate further.

With the miner’s decision to reject the last, best, & final, the ball is back in Hecla’s court and they only have two options: Return to the negotiation table or implement the rejected contract.

Implementation would most likely lead to a strike at the Lucky Friday Mine.

“If they implement, I will call for a strike vote,” Epler explained. “I have the utmost confidence that it (the strike vote) will go the same way this one (the most recent vote) went.”

Epler can only call for the vote, it is up to the miners to vote it into action.

As for what Hecla is planning to do at this point, Russell is keeping his cards close to his chest.

“As far as next steps, we will continue to assess the situation, but the Local’s decision to reject our final offer is disappointing.”

In the wake of the vote, Russell did stress the importance of the Lucky Friday Mine to the local economy and the people in it.

“We have seen a lot of change in our 125 years in the Silver Valley,” Russell explained. “Hecla has operated the Lucky Friday for almost 60 years and is the last of the pioneer mining companies in the Valley because it has continued to change and evolve.

The mine is important to the local economy where the average hourly employee’s 2016 W-2 wage was over $84,000, before additional benefits that were paid, such as family medical, dental, and vision coverage, as well as the pension and 401(k).”

With the drawn out saga this has become, Epler is concerned with the toll that it is taking on the miners.

“This whole ordeal has me worried about safety,” Epler said, citing several accidents that have occurred in the mine since the beginning of 2017.

The Shoshone News-Press will continue to follow this story.