About 100 striking potash workers rally in downtown Saskatoon

By Chris Purdy, The Canadian Press

SASKATOON - Striking potash miner Jim Smutts is prepared to keep walking the picket line when snow hits the ground if it means getting the paycheque he believes he deserves.

Smutts joined about 100 other striking workers and their supporters at a rally Friday outside the downtown Saskatoon office of the Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (TSX:POT).

“It’s just obscene the profits they’re making,” said Smutts, an employee at the company’s Allan mine for 24 years. “All we’re asking is just to have a little share.”

“Share the wealth, I guess, is what we’re saying,” chimed in fellow miner Mark Herbers.

Nearly 500 workers from the company’s Allan, Cory and Patience Lake mines near Saskatoon went on strike and set up around-the-clock picket lines two weeks ago.

The strike has halted production at all three mines.

Potash Corp., the world’s largest fertilizer producer, recently posted second-quarter earnings of $905 million.

Due to high demand for fertilizer, the company plans to spend about $6.8 billion on expanding its operations in Canada, with about $5 billion of that earmarked for expansion at its Saskatchewan facilities.

Company spokesman Bill Johnson said many customers depend on getting product.

“It certainly is our hope that it’s not a long strike,” he said.

“But how long the strike will last really is up to the union. We’ve been pretty clear the offer we put on the table is our best offer.”

Ken Neumann with the United Steelworkers told the rally crowd that Potash Corp. should be embarrassed it’s making so much money and not sharing the riches with its employees.

“It’s really about the sharing of the pie,” he said. “The profits are just the highest that they’ve ever been.”

He said other unions representing workers in the potash industry have formed a coalition to work together to ensure they all fight for a take in the sector’s unprecedented profits.

Larry Hubich, president of the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, said Potash Corp.’s top executives are reaping the rewards and living in mansions.

“(Miners) are average, working-class folks who are coaches in the hockey rinks and who have kids in schools and who contribute in a significant way to their communities,” Hubich said.

“It’s appropriate in times of prosperity to share with those people whose work and labour is delivering those profits to those corporations.”

Smutts said he’s fighting for fair wages for his last six years until retirement and for the younger generation of miners.

“It’s rough work out there too, it’s dangerous,” he said. “We’ve lost a lot of members over the years. I think we should be well paid for what we do.”

Other than wages, workers have said pensions, vacations and contracting out are also key issues in the labour dispute.