By Trina Dennis Brittain
Rocket Miner
Via- Wyoming News Exchange
ROCK SPRINGS — Community leaders and residents across Sweetwater County are processing the shockwaves of WE Soda’s announcement that it will transition its Westvaco operations to solution mining.
It is a move that is expected to slash the local workforce at the mine from about 850 to 500 employees over the next two years. That is a total reduction in force of 350+ employees. It is also a loss of good-paying jobs within the community.
‘That’s insane’
United Steelworkers of America President Marshal Cummings questioned the company’s approach to workforce reductions, warning that WE Soda faces operational hurdles ahead.
“I’m interested to see what they think will happen next,” Cummings told the Rocket Miner.
He noted the company is obligated to discuss every step with the union.
“You could tell me how many people you want to lay off, but you just don’t get to tell me how you’re going to reorganize the process,” Cummings said. “We have to make a bargain.”
He emphasized the human toll of the transition, pointing out the difficult reality his members face every day deep beneath the trona basin.
“These are hard-working Wyomingites. They go 1,800 feet underground to make soda ash,” he said. “These people are dedicated and hardworking. I see them come out of the mine covered in dust and sweat. They do all of this hard work to get rock out of the ground so we can succeed as a company. I believe that they’ve earned their dignity and respect.”
Pointing to out-of-state decision-makers, Cummings criticized corporate leadership for looking at employees as numbers.
“I don’t think that leadership has a whole lot of skin in the game in Wyoming,” he said. “These big companies look at their employees as a number. They don’t look at them as a human with a family. They don’t look at them as someone who’s a team member who goes down there and busts his guts out to make them money. It’s nice and cozy up there in the office with a desk and a chair, but it’s real tough down there.”
When Cummings received the notice, he said it “instantly turned into a number in a lot of eyes.”
“These people can share that number with shareholders who have never set foot in Wyoming and don’t understand the legacy that trona mining is in this state,” he said, “All they care is that the number keeps getting bigger and bigger and it is in their bank account.”
Vowing to fight the cuts with everything he has, Cummings said he has already received verbal support from Governor-elect Eric Barlow and state officials regarding the unprecedented job losses.
“I’m going to reach out to as many people that will listen,” he said. “Three hundred fifty jobs in two years… that’s insane. I don’t know if the state’s ever gone through that. It sounds like a pipe dream, but if you dream big and you work hard, there’s a chance, right?”
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