Without union, Hecla will forge ahead

There will be no ho-ho-hoing at Hecla headquarters in Coeur d’Alene.

No spirits bright in the Silver Valley this holiday season.

By a narrow margin, union miners saw to that this week, rejecting a proposed contract that their union leaders saw as a fair and square deal.

It’s easy to pick on union honchos and accuse them of misleading the membership, but in this case, apparently, the leaders aren’t to blame. Eighty union miners said hell no to a contract in which Hecla gave far more than it took. Those 80 naysayers have thwarted the will of at least 71 of their brothers and essentially extended a chill over the Valley economy that will linger long after the snow melts.

This story is nothing new. When you consider that Hecla began negotiating in good faith almost a year before miners struck, the impasse has gone on for 44 months. In recent weeks, the relentless efforts of committees representing both the Coeur d’Alene-based company and United Steelworkers Union 5114 appeared to have finally struck gold.

Neither side was ecstatic but both sides were satisfied. It was merely a matter of union members voting yes and getting back to work, with the goal of getting the Lucky Friday outside Mullan fully operational and the Silver Valley fully healing from the economic and emotional strain.

Instead, nobody is winning anything. In the end, it might be striking miners who lose the most.

Hecla President Phillips S. Baker, upon hearing of the contract proposal’s defeat, sounded stoic but determined.

“We will now accelerate hiring and utilizing contractors with the goal of reaching full production by year-end 2020,” he said. “While we would have preferred ratification of the agreement reached by the two negotiating committees, after three years of negotiating we believe the best interests of the company and community is the Lucky Friday in full operation.”

Baker followed that up with a full-page ad Thursday in The Press, charting the path for new hires.

Hecla VP of External Affairs Luke Russell acknowledged that the door to the negotiating room is always open, but at this point, does anyone really believe a resolution is realistic? Not with at least 80 miners who have told the company to take their fair offer and shove it.

Instead, for the good of the miners who want very much to get back to work close to home, for the benefit of a good company that has been based in Coeur d’Alene longer than any other, and for the people of the Silver Valley whose psyches and savings accounts will improve once the Lucky Friday is fully ramped up, here’s hoping Hecla succeeds in manning the operation any way it can, as soon as it can.

Then next Christmas the ho-ho-hoing will resonate throughout the land.