COLUMBUS — Union leadership met with Sibanye Stillwater mine workers on Thursday night in anticipation of 700 layoffs recently announced by the company.
The United Steelworkers (USW) Local 11-0001 held its regular meeting and one of the big items on the agenda was layoffs. It will be handled by seniority in 22 job classifications at the Stillwater Mine in Nye and 17 at the East Boulder Mine.
If a worker does not have seniority in a current job, that person may be able to carry that seniority to another job category that he or she worked before, according to the USW executive board.
It's expected that those with about 15 years of experience will be able to keep their jobs at the Nye facility.
From now until November, the union says it will work with the company to try to keep as many jobs as possible.
Of the 232 working as miners at the Stillwater Mine in Nye, 82 will stay on the job.
“I'm number seven on the miner list, so I’m safe,” said Ralee Rogers. “I feel for my son and everybody below 82 you know, or anybody not on the list, no matter the department.”
Rogers has been at the mine for 29 years, but he has empathy for the other 140 miners who will lose their jobs on November 12.
“It's the guys down in the hole, breaking the rock that are paying the bills,” Rogers said. “I'm a development miner. I don't even pay the bills.”
Others remain concerned that they will not be part of that 82.
“Kind of right on the edge,” said Bryan Bartholomew, who has been on the job 14 years. “I don't know if I'm going to make it or not.”
The union and the company say about 565 hourly workers will lose their jobs along with 135 salaried employees, not represented by the union, who will be out of work.
About 26% of the salaried workers will be laid off, according to Sibanye Stillwater VP Legal and External Affairs, Americas Heather McDowell. Additionally, about 46% of hourly workers will lose their jobs.
“Essentially, these are minimum manpower numbers,” said Dan Baluscek, USW Local 11-0001 president. “So for the next however many days, 54 days, we're going to be here trying to get as many jobs as humanly possible back onto these lists.”
The union currently represents 1,230 hourly workers.
“I think there's a lot of upset guys,” Bartholomew said. “Company is not giving out a whole lot of information. They just want to know. Am I getting laid off? Am I going keep my job? There's a lot of guys scared for their future because they've got families to support."
“Every one job that we can claw back at, we're going to get,” Baluscek said.
