| Arizona Copper Mine Strike Of 1983 |
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HISTORY On April 7 , 1982 , Phelps Dodge announced it would lay off 3,400 of its workers in Texas and Arizona . Over one year later, in May of 1983, the '', Dan Fein, August 21, 1995]. In recent years, similar agreements had been accepted by other mining corporations, including Kennecott , Asarco , Magma Copper, and Inspiration Consolidated Copper. However, Phelps Dodge was facing competition from overseas producers during a particularly low period of metals pricing. Increased media scrutiny, highlighted by the July 1983 cover of Business Week , declaring a "Management Crisis at Phelps Dodge", implicated chairman George B. Munroe in the company's financial woes. The subsequent negotiations with the unions failed to lead to an agreement, and on midnight of '', Jonathan Rosenblum, June 29-July 5, 1995]. At the beginning of August, Phelps Dodge announced that they would be hiring permanent Replacement Workers (scabs) for the Morenci Mine. The company took out large employment ads for new workers in the Tucson and Phoenix newspapers. Meanwhile, the local government passed Injunction s limiting both picketing and demonstrations at the mine. On Monday, August 8 , approximately 1,000 strikers and their supporters gathered at the gate to the mine in response. Phelps Dodge stopped production and, later that day, Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt flew in to meet with the company. Phelps Dodge agreed to a 10-day moratorium on hiring replacement workers, and it was decided that a federal Mediator would be called in for negotiations. On the morning of August 19 , military vehicles, Tank s, Helicopter s, 426 State Troopers and 325 National Guard Members arrived in Clifton and Morenci as part of "Operation Copper Nugget" to break the strike. Strikers at the gate were unable to prevent the replacement workers from entering the mine. Eight days later, 10 strikers were arrested in Ajo and charged with Riot ing. From this point on, the strike lost much of its momentum. After a series of confrontations and controversies, the strike officially ended on February 19 , 1986 , when the National Labor Relations Board rejected appeals from the unions attempting to halt decertification. AFTERMATH Shortly after the strike ended, world copper prices began to climb. This and the introduction of new mining technology led to a marked increase in profits at Phelps Dodge. While their annual profits in 1985 were just $29.5 million, profits rapidly climbed to $205.7 million in 1987 and $420 million in 1988. In 1989, the Wall Street Journal published a front page story describing how Phelps Dodge restructured and avoid bankruptcySwasy, A., Long road back: How Phelps Dodge struggled to survive and prospered again, ''Wall Street Journal'', November 24, 1989. The Arizona Copper Mine Strike would later become a symbol of defeat for American unions. ''The Economics of Labor Markets'' and ''The Transformation of American Industrial Relations'' singled out the Arizona strike as the start of overt company strikebreaking in the 1980s. Journalists referred to the miners' strike as a precedent for subsequent labor failures. REFERENCES FURTHER READING
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