Strike to result in $10m. cost to Cominco

The strike at Cominco’s Trail and Kimberley operations should cost the company about $10 million in after-tax earnings by month-end, says Robert E. Hallbauer, president and chief executive officer. However, sales from inventories have minimized the impact on earnings, he concedes, adding that during the summer period sales are usually at the lowest level of the year.

Higher metal prices have prevailed since the strike began and earnings have improved at other mines, he notes. The company has been able to sell surplus power which normally would have been used at its Trail smelting operations, reducing the strike impact even further.

An agreement with production and maintenance workers was reached in July but negotiations with office and technical workers were unsuccessful. So the operations are still strikebound.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume Aug 18. One of the contentious issues with the latter is a longer work week which now averages approximately 37 hours.