July 4, 2006
To all of you Brave Soldiers in Solidarity,I know this is a hard thing to do at times, to stand for what is right and fair. Forge and push onward as the oppression against you all is strong but with solidarity and only with solidarity can you persevere and gain all that you so richly deserve. I say this as I know of what I speak. So you all know I and many of my Brothers and Sisters stood tall in solidarity for 4 months on the picket lines in the dispute with Telus, from July 21, 2005 to November 20, 2005.
We of the Telecommunication Workers Union (TWU) fought for a collective agreement of which we had been without for 5 years. The ending was not good. The company fought down and dirty and hired scab labour and divided the union and the strength was weakened.
Fight for all you are worth (you are all worth plenty) there is no choice you are in it now. Learn from the lessons of those around you, the only time a union loses is when it is divided. Solidarity is the key. Grasp this key and open the doors of freedom for all. Remember what is worth it, is worth fighting for and there is no free ride. Attached are some possibly helpful quotes, songs and pros.
May God speed. Stay strong and solid. Loud and Proud.
In Solidarity
Cindy L Fraser
June 26 - From Australia
Dear Carol,
I salute the courage of the workers at Ekati for winning the first ever
collective agreement at Ekati in the face of determined opposition from the biggest mining company in the world. Here we sometimes say that FIFO operations are too hard to unionise. You show it can be done - north of the Artic Circle! At some later stage I would appreciate the sober assessment of what was won and lost. For now, thanks for keeping us informed.
In solidarity,
Peter Colley
National Research Director
Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union
Mining and Energy Division
PO Box Q1641, Sydney NSW 1230, Australia
June 26 - Greetings from Vancouver
I just read about the tentative settlement. I am really glad that there is light at the end of the tunnel (if this is a pun about working in a mine it is unintended).
Congratulations on reaching a first collective agreement, and best wishes for a safe and contented work environment.
8-) In solidarity,
Laurel Axam
PSAC, CBB Office - BC/YT
June 23 - Congrats on tentative agreement
Awesome job on the BHP strike. As my voice-mail to Sr. Juneau stated, you have made us proud and have given us resolve to forge ahead .... straight into summer vacations hopefully.
We recognize the toll this took and are glad that hopefully it is behind us and the members can resume work with the protection of a collective agreement.
In solidarity,
Mark Rogers
Regional Representative
Public Service Alliance of Canada
Halifax, N.S.
June 16 - Report from Edmonton
Well. We had fun. We passed out leaflets at all three locations with various degrees of success. The Kingsway Mall Location, Michael Anthony jewelers went pretty smooth. This was a store inside a mall. Security did tell our people to leave but Bonnie Suter the 'Team Leader' for this location was able to negotiate with them to allow us to leaflet just outside the mall entrance. They also placed some flyers on cars. They were able to talk to many people and many were supportive. We had at least 8 members at this location including Dianne Allen, a director from the Yukon Employees Union. At Independent Jewelers we had five members passing out leaflets. This was a stand alone, outside location. The owner of the store was very upset and called the police immediately. He talked to our people using plenty of profanity. They left that location right away but not before our members took the opportunity to put a flyer on the windshield of every car in the parking lot. When they left there they went to the West Edmonton Mall to continue placing flyers on windshields. We started leafleting at Ani Jewelers in the West Edmonton Mall (WEM) but were quickly asked to stop handing out flyers by mall security. There was very little traffic at this location anyway but we did manage to talk to a number of potential customers. Important to note that security did not ask to leave the mall. With the members from the other location now at the WEM we started to place flyers on windshields in the parking lot. We did this to at least 1000 cars. One of our members was arrested for trespassing by mall security. They told her to remove the flyers from the cars but they never told her to leave. They held her for 3 hours and refused to let me talk to her until the cops got there. When the police did finally show up they fined her $287 for trespassing. They were very heavy handed but thankfully our member was not hurt. We will be looking into our options about what we now need to do. One interesting note. The police told her that they had complaints 'from all over town' about striking miners demonstrating in front of jewelry stores. Hee, hee. In Solidarity; Oneil Carlier Regional Representative Public Service Alliance of Canada
June 16 - Greetings from the National Capital Region
We, at the National Capital Region in our Campaign to support the PSAC members of the Ekati mine were very surprised in the attention that we received today from the public.
Let's me start by saying being a little group of supporters(9) didn't stop us getting the result we were searching at.
Two pickets information line were established (Davidson and Alyeas jewellers), more than 200 tracts were distribute. The public were so attract by the bride which make the rest become a feary tell.
I wish that BHP Billiton and his partners had as much openess to the demands of Ekati mine's members. The Bride was asked by many: visitors, touristes coming from all over the word and local people to stop and ... The pictures will reveal you all the excitement moment of this day.
From the starting place; the jeweller's, to the parliament hill, we decided to make the last stop where radio's and television's station "NEWRO" are located, the speaker's corner of a channel based at the by ward market. A 3 minutes news focussing on the situation of the members at the Ekati mine was release. We Hope that the messages of the Chair of the Ottawa Area Council (Hugh McGoldrick), the Co Chair of the Racially Visible Action Committee (Carl Laguerre) and the secretary of the Outaouais Political Action Area Council (François Brochu) will be heard regionally and nationnally.
Our first stop bring us to the Davidson's jewellers in down town of Ottawa at 11:00 a.m. At this time, they were no sign of operation inside, but still the owner find a way to show there and tell us to leave her place. The notes put in her door were significant enough but that doesn't stop her arguing to the supporters.
The discussion and notes were about the unfairness of PSAC actions in this matter, which not justified the coming of the supporters in front of her store. She alleges that the employees of Ekati mine are very please with what they have right now in the North and they don't want the union here.
"You PSAC members don't have no sense of the real life out there because you never been there.."
Our message back was: The union in the Ekati Mine is here to stay to protect the members right and we will continue to inform the public and to support our fellow in the North until BHP Billiton return to the table to negociate fairly.
If Davidson's jewellers owner wasn't happy to see us at the beginning, she surely learn a lot from the discussion and hopefully will brought it back.
We are looking forward to another day like this one, with more participation from our members of the National Capital Region. Our effort to support the members of Ekati Mine nationnally wasn't vaine Brothers & sisters.
A special thanks to Jean François Deslauriers VP exec. reg of the North, to Joyce Gilles, Paulette Barker, Vicki-Lynn Smith, Marie Louise Larocque and all those who were present and over all to the bride and Dena.
In Solidarity,
Renée Paule Loriston
PSAC Regional Officer - NCR - Gatineau
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June 16 - Good Luck from New Brunswick
Greetings Brothers and Sisters of the PSAC at the Ekati diamond mines;
Keep up the great work in your negotiations. You have all the best wishes of the PSAC staff of Passport Canada in Fredericton NB.
GOOD LUCK !!!!
Mark-Anthony (Tony) Collrin
Passport Officer
Passport Canada
Fredericton NB
Foreign Affairs Canada
June 16 - Keep your head up
Keep your head up , you will overcome.
Mike Rodgers
Local 60602 UCTE
Moncton, NB
June 16 - From USWA
United Steelworkers local 8914 Sask are wishing you good luck we are currently bargaining a new cba with Cameco and hoping the best for you.
June 16 - Support our Brothers & Sisters
I am writing in support of our brothers and sisters who work at Ekati Mines. These workers have been on strike for over 3 months and it is a SHAME that the employer is not negotiating in good faith and is making millions of dollars on the backs of its workers, who are try to get their first collective agreement.
Raj Dhir
National VP for Human Rights
National Component
June 15 - Rise and Be Strong
Hi,
I know these are trying times for all, I myself have been in this position many times over my 21 Yrs. Of service. It's a time when we need to rise, be strong, be counted, and support each other. Not many words can be said that would help at a time like this, just know that you have the support of my local and if we could , we would be out there with you, supporting you.
In solidarity
President
USGE Local 50026
Tony Dorosh
June 15 - Keep Up The Fight
Keep up the fight!. This employer has to learn to respect its workers.
Chris Jones
June 15 - Applaud Your Courage
To our members at the Ekati diamond mine,
I would like to say that I applaud your courage, your determination and your solidarity!!! No worker in our great country deserves to be treated with anything less than dignity and respect by his or her employer. You are asking for better working conditions and wages. There is absolutely nothing unreasonable about that, especially in view of the level of profitability of the company you are working for. That success stems in large part from your labour. I find it disgusting and revolting that your employer thanks you by forcing you to take strike action, hiring scabs to replace you and threatening your very livelihood. Corporate greed, unfair labour practices and general employee abuse have no place in a fair, democratic and caring society like Canada.Every day, I meet PSAC members like yourselves who are willing to make sacrifices and take risks in order to make the world a better place for all workers. That is why I feel proud to be part of this organization.
Thank you and keep up the good work,
Jacqueline Préfontaine-Moore
Grievance and Adjudication Officer/Classification
Representation Section
Public Service Alliance of Canada
June 15-Stand Together
Dear Brothers and Sisters;
Your determination to stand together for your improved collective agreement is supported by all members in the Prairie Region.
Those of us who have walked the line know how hard it is to stay strong, stay focused, and stay committed to your demands.
You will make bonds on the line together that will last a life time.
In Solidarity,
Valerie Denesiuk
Government Services Union
Prairie Regional Council Representative for
Persons with Disabilities.
April 8, 2006 - Stay Strong, stay the course and...We shall overcome!
Greetings Sisters and Brothers,
Yesterday was our first day of strike action against BHP Billiton Diamonds. I can hardly express how proud I am of all of you and of all our members who have walked off the job in support of their bargaining team. Just to see the crew walk down the air stairs of the Canadian North 737 at 7 a.m.almost brought tears to my eyes.It was a long day in some ways, starting at 5 a.m.for most people and going into the late evening for many, especially the folks in Ottawaon two hours difference. In other ways, it was a short one because, of course, it went by fast, considering the level of activity.It was an emotional roller coaster, first not knowing how many people would heed to call, then seeing them walk off the plane, then hearing news of the decertification application, then hearing from Grand Chief George Mackenzie's support for his people. Finally, we ended on a high note and this will carry on today, Sunday April 8, day 2 of the NWT Diamond Workers Strike!
Stay strong, stay the course and... We shall overcome!
Solidarity Forever!
Jean-François DesLauriers
Dennis Bevington, MP Western Arctic Region Letter to Todd Parsons, President of UNW
Please click on the link below to read the above named letter of support for the Unionized Workers of Ekati Diamond Mine.
 Parsons_letter_from_D._Bevington.pdf
May 4th - I fully support the efforts of the Union - Letter to the Editor
I am a Tlicho Citizen who lives in the Behchoko (Rae) community and I am writing in response to the article in News North on April 17th from Joseph Boysis who states that BHP Billiton Aboriginal workers at Ekati did not understand that they were voting to go on strike....
Read more: click on link below...
166178_psac_advertorial.pdf
May 29th - Letter To Members of the Tlicho Nation
The workers at Ekati Mine owned by BHP Billiton have been on strike for almost two months. Many of us made the difficult decision to honour the picket line and to fight for our rights. We made many sacrifices to ensure that we, aboriginal workers, are respected and treated with fairness and dignity by this transnational employer.
Read more in the .pdf below
PSAC_North_Diamond_Workers.pdf
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Messages of Support For Striking Diamond Workers
Here are some more messages of support.
Click to view them!
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