A spokesperson for a Saskatchewan-based uranium mining company says they are hopeful a simmering labour dispute at two of its northern operations can be resolved before month’s end.
Employees at Cameco’s McArthur River mine and the Key Lake mill have voted 92 per cent in favour of a labour disruption if a contract is not reached by Aug. 28.
The approximately 540 employees are members of the United Steelworkers Union Local 8914.
Cameco spokesperson Gord Struthers says an early strike vote has occurred in contract negotiations in the past and the company is optimistic an agreement can be reached by the end of August.
“Well, we are in negotiations with unionized workers at McArthur River and Key Lake and we’re in conciliation with them now and have further meetings scheduled at the end of the month and we’re hopeful that we can conclude a collective agreement with them,” he says.
The employees have been without a contract since the end of 2013.
However, Struthers says it is not uncommon for negotiations to go on several months after a contract has expired.
“It’s been the normal pattern of negotiations at these operations that the agreements are concluded after the contract expired.”
He would not say what the sticking points between the two sides are in terms of concluding a new collective agreement.
A strike has never occurred at a Cameco mine.