Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

Yellowknife – Supporters of striking Ekati diamond mine workers will be leafleting customers at Brinkhaus Jewellers store in Vancouver and Idar Jewellers in Victoria this Saturday as part of their union’s Canada-wide “Dirty Diamonds” campaign to win a fair first contract.

Brinkhaus Jewellers and Idar Jewellers are two of several dozen BHP Billiton-authorized Canadian jewelers selling AuriasTM and CanadaMarkTM diamonds from Ekati. The Public Service Alliance of Canada says customers will be politely asked to not buy diamonds being produced by strikebreakers behind picket lines in its efforts to pressure mine owner BHP Billiton to reach a first collective agreement.

The “Dirty Diamonds” campaign started with PSAC publishing major newspaper ads in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal on June 13, says Kay Sinclair, PSAC Executive Vice-President-British Columbia, and will continue with consumer boycott pressure and a cross-Canada tour by Ekati diamond workers to tell their story to the public.

Sinclair says leafleting at jewelers selling Ekati diamonds will also take place Saturday in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Yellowknife and many other Canadian cities.

“We are telling consumers that BHP Billiton Ekati diamonds are dirty diamonds as long as our members are on strike and strikebreakers are doing their jobs,” Sinclair said. “Two million readers of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were asked this week to not buy Ekati dirty diamonds and starting on Saturday we will give the same message to potential customers at all BHP Billiton-authorized jewelers.”

Sinclair said PSAC will increase pressure on BHP Billiton locally, nationally and internationally until a fair first contract is achieved for Ekati workers.

Workers at the Ekati mine became PSAC members in July 2004 and have been on strike since April 7. Ekati produces 6 per cent of the world’s diamond supply by value or 4 per cent by weight and yields 3 to 5 million carats annually.

Leafleting will take place between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 17, in front of Brinkhaus Jewellers at 1018 West Georgia in Vancouver and from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in front of Idar Jewellers at 946 Fort Street in Victoria.