More than 500 workers are on strike at the Gibraltar copper mine in central British Columbia, about 200 kilometres south of Prince George.
Unifor says its Local 3018 members voted to strike today because Vancouver-based Taseko Mines Limited, the operation’s owner, “refused to negotiate basic terms of a new collective agreement.”
A statement from the union says contract negotiations began in February and have involved “many hours of meetings.”
No agreement had been reached when the workers’ latest contract expired on Friday. Members had also voted 98 per cent in favour of a strike if a contract could not be achieved before the deadline, according to a previous statement from the union.
The statement says Unifor Local 3018 represents about 550 workers at the mine, which is the second largest open-pit copper mine in Canada and the largest employer in the region.
Taseko Mines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.