Stillwater Mine Workers Set to Strike

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Associated Press

By MATTHEW BROWN 07.10.07, 12:21 PM ET

About 900 Stillwater Mining Co. employees plan to go on strike at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday after two months of negotiations failed to produce a new labor contract, a company spokesman said.

A strike would hobble the company's platinum metals mine in Nye and smelter and refinery complex in Columbus. Work would continue at the Montana-based company's smaller East Boulder mine where the labor contract has another year to run, Stillwater spokesman John Beaudry said.

"The full crews showed up for work on schedule today," Beaudry said Tuesday. "We'll see where we're at when the current labor agreement expires tonight. We have almost 200 salaried people at the mine site and those people would continue to work."

He said the remaining 40 people at the smetler and refinery would also continue to work.

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/10/ap3899432.html