It used to be that when the "copper giant" sneezed, the whole state caught a cold.
In fact, back when Kennecott was Utah's largest private employer, the kind of strike talk heard this past week would have been enough to send a chill through Utah's entire economy.Today, it's mostly just the workers and the company who shiver at the thought of a strike. But for the workers, at least, strike talk hasn't lost any of its former impact.
"I thought those days were over; I really did," said Byron Timothy, a third-generation Kennecott employee. "I never figured we would have to go through this again."
The new ownership, modernization and huge corporate profits that followed the mine's shutdown from 1985 to 1988 had instilled in Timothy and others a previously unheard of sense of security.
Strike or no strike, that's gone now, Timothy said with a note of bitterness. Despite his family's long association with Kennecott, Timothy says after this year's contract negotiations, "things will never be the same."
The love-hate relationship has defined the labor unions' association with Kennecott ever since collective bargaining hit the copper industry in the late 1930s, when Timothy's grandfather worked at the mine.
Wages-benefits and productivity-profits steadily increased through the decades, but so did the strikes: 12 between 1951 and 1980. The strike of 1967 was the worst of all, lasting 262 devastating days.
Timothy, 42, whose father was then working for Kennecott, remembers the strike's terrible impact on families and local businesses. With 6,300 of the state's highest paid industrial workers idled, the economy lost $373,000 per day, $100 million by the time it was over.
Garth L. Mangum, University of Utah professor of management and economics, said that while a strike today would be a financial blow to individual families, it would have a minimal effect on the overall economy.
"The state's economy has diversified a great deal since then," Mangum said, characterizing Utah as "strike proof."
Copper generally is no longer the big player it once was in the local and national economy. In his recently published book "Capital and Labor in American Copper: 1845-1990," Mangum notes the industry employs about 25,000 people today compared to 125,000 in 1950.
However, even with fewer employees - just over 2,000 - Kennecott is more productive and profitable than it has ever been, Mangum said.
He writes in his book that in 1989, Kennecott's new owner, Rio Tinto Zinc Ltd., "discovered that for an investment of $3.7 billion, it had purchased a single property (now known as the Kennecott Corporation) which produced one-third of the total profits of its worldwide operations.
"It is ironic that the nearly $400 million one-year profit from the Bingham Canyon property approximated the entire cost of the modernization which, along with labor concessions and favorable prices, had made it possible."
That's what gets Timothy's goat. "We took a 35-percent pay cut in 1986 and haven't come close to getting it back. What we've asked for in our economic package could be paid for out of eight to 15 days worth of profits."
Mangum, whose book draws a detailed picture of the causes and effects of the copper industry's labor disputes, says this year's contract negotiations are likely to determine how each side views the other for years to come.
"Sometimes labor organizations have to call a strike just to maintain their credibility," he said.
"It's unsettling," Timothy said of the strike talk. "I've tried to save a little bit of money to be prepared, but it would definitely hurt."
The pain wouldn't stop there, he says. "The strike would have a ripple effect, even if it is a small one. People won't be buying cars or furniture; there won't be as much money out there."
But the broader community isn't too worried.
"There will be people who are heavily impacted, people who work there, but we're not totally dependent on Kennecott anymore," said Ray Heidt, president of the Magna Area Community Council.
Changes in population patterns, ease of transportation and other factors have dispersed Kennecott's employees throughout northern Utah, Heidt said. Magna and even Copperton are no longer the company towns they once were.
And the Timothys may not always be the company family they have been, either. Like his grandfather and father before him, Byron Timothy hired on just out of high school in 1969. Two of his brothers work there. He doesn't think his kids will.
"I don't want them to. I told them to go to college so they won't have to put up with this."
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Previous strikes
1955
Length: 47 days
Settlement of the strike saw the unions getting more than twice as much as the company originally offered, yet less than half as much as the union originally demanded.
1959
Length: 5 1/2 months
The second longest strike in recent memory, this action saw union members getting food from union storehouses and made the city of Bingham look like a ghost town on many days. With the walkout occuring Aug. 10, some locals settled in as little as three months, but the final settlement didn't come until Jan. 27, 1960.
1964
Length: About 2 1/2 months
1967
Length: 8 1/2 months
The strike of 1967 is considered the most devastating strike in copper industry history in terms of personal and national impact. Approximately 60,000 workers from 26 unions nationwide walked off the job in a major contract dispute. In Utah, 6,300 Kennecott Copper Corp. miners were idled for eight-and-a-half months - the longest strike in Utah history. Estimates suggest the strike cost the Utah economy $373,000 a day. By the time workers returned to work, $100 million was lost, mostly in wages and mine purchases. Striking miners lost an average of $5,000 each during the walkout. At least 450 Salt Lake County families were added to the welfare rolls. Some miners left the state for work.
1971
Length: 29 days
The strike of 1971 idled 36,000 miners in five states, including 6,500 copper miners.
1974
Length: 6 days
1977
Length: 19 days
The strike affected more than 6,000 Utah workers and their families.
1980
Length: 71 days
Company officials reported on October 1980 that the company experienced a $51 million third-quarter loss that then chairman Thomas D. Barrow attributed to the strike.