Cigar Lake mine contract workers join union

United Steelworkers also working to get Cameco employees at site to sign up

That’s a much larger margin than we needed … we only needed 50 per cent plus one, so it shows good support. USW LOCAL 8914 PRESIDENT DENIS TOFIN

Saskatchewan’s biggest mining union is about to get bigger.

Three months after United Steelworkers began organizing at Cameco Corp.’s flagship uranium mine, 62 contract cleaners, housekeepers and kitchen staff at the northern site voted 67 per cent in favour of joining the labour group.

Athabasca Catering Limited Partnership’s (ACLP) employees were not the objective of the union drive — Cameco’s employees were — but they approached representatives and ultimately voted on Dec. 21, said USW Local 8914 president Denis Tofin.

“That’s a much larger margin than we needed … we only needed 50 per cent plus one, so it shows good support,” said Tofin, whose local represents Cameco employees and ACLP contractors at the company’s Key Lake mill and McArthur River mine.

The next step is for the ACLP workers to negotiate a collective agreement with their employer, a process Tofin said is expected to begin in February and likely won’t take long because ACLP employees at Key Lake and McArthur River are already union members.

Once a collective agreement is in place, the ACLP workers at Cigar Lake will become the newest affiliate of USW Local 8914.

ACLP representatives could not be reached for comment on Monday. Cameco spokesman Gord Struthers said it “hasn’t been an issue” that ACLP contractors at Key Lake and McArthur River are unionized. The company and union are thought to have a positive relationship.

Asked whether he expects Cameco’s employees at Cigar Lake — the only one of the company’s operating facilities that is not unionized — to follow suit and certify, USW staff representative Mike Pulak said he is optimistic but admitted it will take more time than originally expected.

Cameco is preparing to shut down its McArthur River and Key Lake facilities for 10 months, beginning later this year. A response to plummeting demand and prices, the shutdowns are expected to leave 845 employees and contractors temporarily without work.