Dona Lake pact benefits natives

Native Indian employees at Placer Dome’s (TSE) Dona Lake gold mine in northeastern Ontario were recently granted significant guarantees under an initial collective agreement ordered by an arbitration board.

Natives from the nearby Windigo Tribal Council and Osnaburgh Indian Band will receive preference in hiring and special training for other jobs as part of a collective agreement that runs from Aug. 1, 1991, to July 31, 1993. Brian Schell, a lawyer at the United Steelworkers of America in Toronto, called the agreement a model for Ontario and the rest of Canada. “This award establishes a new way to deal with the question of unions and native employees,” he told The Northern Miner.

The Dona Lake mine, which produced 43,278 oz. gold last year, employs approximately 100 unionized personnel including 20 native Indians. Although the mine isn’t located on the Osnaburgh Indian reserve, Placer Dome agreed to provide a number of employment guarantees and training opportunities to native Indians before the mine was developed to production.

However, when a union certified in November, 1989, failed to negotiate a first contract, the Ontario Labour Relations Board found that concern for a possible conflict between the Dona Lake agreement and collective bargaining process was a major obstacle.

The Labour Board noted that Placer Dome was reluctant to take any bargaining position which either was or may have been seen to be inconsistent with the Dona Lake native agreement. The union also claimed that the company was refusing to recognize its right to bargain on behalf of a significant number of employees in the bargaining unit.

As a result, the issue was sent to an arbitration board chaired by George Adams, a professor of labor law at the University of Ottawa and former chairman of the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

As well as respecting the rights of its native employees, the arbitration board has ordered Placer Dome to pay union workers employed at the mine from Jan. 1, 1990, to July 31, 1991, a lump sum of $2,000 and a pro-rated portion for those employed for part of that period.

Union workers will also receive wage increases of 11-56% over two years depending on their job classifications.

A spokesman for Placer Dome said the company is still studying the implications of the agreement.