Question:
Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets
[omitted material] is material to be omitted.
Green numbers along left margin indicate location on the printed bill (e.g.,
5-15 indicates page 5, line 15).
Assembly Joint RESOLUTION-Expressing the support of the Nevada Legislature
for the overturn of the new federal regulations on surface mining.
Answer:
I sure hope that those idiots in Calif. and other major mining states, are going
to finally realize what Nevada has obviously done.
The 960 union miners, out of a workforce of some 1,500, work at the
company’s underground and surface mining operations in Carlin Trend, a
250-square-mile area in northern Nevada where one-third of all gold is
mined in the United States.
Workers carried out the two-day strike in response to company efforts
to gut seniority rights. Newmont bosses are demanding a "skills-based"
seniority system, which they claim would provide greater
"opportunities" for employees while allowing the company more
"flexibility" in moving workers from job to job. Union chief negotiator
Frank Herrera told the Las Vegas Sun that "Newmont could demote workers
if they don’t meet certain company criteria, including being able to
handle up to eight different pieces of equipment."
The miners work rotating 12-hour shifts. Many pay for charter-bus rides
to get to the Carlin mining operation, which is about 30 miles away
from Elko.
The company wants "to be able to hire people off the street for less
money to do the jobs of those with more seniority," said a miner, "and
then put the older people in harder jobs to make them quit and lose
their pension."
Another miner also spoke about the harsh conditions in the underground
mine. "The company assigns you to work for two hours in a place more
hot than hot," he said, "and some people have passed out [including
me.] They don’t care."
Whether miners are members of the union or not, most say that they
supported the walkout. "The union sets the wage scale," explained a
worker coming back from work. "If the company wins against the union or
if they get rid of it, the wages would go down in all the mines."
Miners say that Newmont is the only union-organized gold mine in
northern Nevada.
Miners say that Newmont has penalized workers for union activity, and
imposed unilateral changes such as an increase in co-payments for
health-care benefits, and cuts in bonuses.
Miners also confront a dangerous level of naturally occurring arsenic,
a very dangerous carcinogenic chemical element, in the hot underground
mine. The workers are demanding an arsenic-free place to eat their
lunch.
After the walkout, the company agreed to restart negotiations.
Bonanza for mine bosses
Elko township is situated in northern Nevada at an elevation of 5,060
feet. With only a 90-day growing season placing severe limits on
agriculture, the state’s economy is based mainly on the mining industry
and casinos. The state of Nevada is the third-largest producer of gold
in the world after South Africa and Australia.
Denver-based Newmont Corp. also has mining operations in Indonesia,
Africa, Australia, Bolivia, Ecuador, New Zealand, Turkey, and
Uzbekistan. The company hires close to 25,000 workers worldwide,
including 2,875 in the United States. Newmont’s underground and pit
mines at the Carlin Trend started production in 1965, and by April 2002
this mining operation had produced 36 million ounces of gold.
