Miners Build Power for the Future at USW Mining Conference

About 200 USW members from the U.S. and Canada honed their skills and pledged their ongoing solidarity last week at the 2026 Mining Conference focused on building power in a turbulent but rapidly expanding sector.

Consumer goods, electricity, vehicles, military hardware and countless other essential items all start with the coal, copper, limestone, ore, potash, trona and other minerals produced by thousands of USW miners, International President Roxanne D. Brown reminded the group as she welcomed them to Pittsburgh.

"Thank you for the long shifts, for the time away from your families, for working in the heat, the cold, the dust, the noise and the dark, for doing work that demands skill, concentration, experience and, above all, respect for the people working beside you," Brown said.

The U.S. and Canadian governments continue to invest ever more heavily in mining, and operators in both countries plan buildups and expansions in years to come-a sign of the growing need for minerals for data centers, electric vehicles, semiconductors and other technology.

This all means new opportunities and more bargaining power for union miners, stressed International Secretary-Treasurer Myles Sullivan, chair of the Mining Council, who got his start as a miner in Sudbury, Ontario.

"I know, and I believe, that as important as mining has been historically and as important as it is today, it will be even more important to our future," said Sullivan, citing the Mining Council's mission of harnessing these gains across the underground mines, open-pit mines, quarries, mills and smelters that USW members operate.

No Border Divides Our Miners

The conference, the first since the USW established a Mining Council to coordinate bargaining and organizing across the sector, occurred against the backdrop of the Trump administration's trade war with Canada.

But USW miners refuse to be divided. Instead, union leaders and conference participants took the opportunity to underscore the deep ties between the two economies and the workers who fuel them.

"There's a lot of turmoil, but none of that matters, because we're still friends. No government can change that," declared Herb Watkins, vice president of Local 2020, which represents workers at Magna Mining in Sudbury.

Solidarity isn't optional. It's essential given that U.S. and Canadian miners face the same challenges, including greedy employers, poor management, threats posed by automation, fluctuating commodity prices and mental health.

The conference format enabled members to share information and brainstorm solutions to those shared challenges.

"We have to make sure that we stay together and learn from each other," Sullivan said.

Join the USW's Miner-to-Miner Organizing Push

Surface maintenance workers at the Musselwhite gold mine in Ontario joined the USW last year, and the union continues working across states and provinces with other miners interested in organizing.

These campaigns reflect workers' growing need for a voice on the job, especially in an industry as dangerous as mining.

And when a new group joins the USW, everyone wins. The greater the sector-wide density, the more power workers have to negotiate strong contracts, District 12 Director Gaylan Prescott stressed to the conference.

"That's the best way to have a race to the top rather than perpetuate this race to the bottom," observed Prescott, who co-chairs the Mining Council.

Rank-and-file members will be essential to organizing at ore, trona, zinc and other sites, Prescott said. This starts with negotiating strong union leave language into contracts and identifying members willing to step away from their regular jobs to help organize fellow miners.

Miners interested in joining the USW's worker-to-worker organizing effort may apply here(opens in new tab).

Union Stands with Local 11-0001

Conference participants gave a standing ovation to representatives from Local 11-0001, which launched an unfair labor practice strike against the Sibanye-Stillwater mining conglomerate in September.

After lavishing money on shareholders in recent years, the company now wants to cut incentive pay, health care and other hard-earned benefits for about 420 workers at the Stillwater Mine and Columbus Metallurgical Complex in south-central Montana.

"They spent the profits down, and now there's a rainy day and they want to come after our members to pay for it," Sullivan said. He recognized the Local 11-0001 members in the room and told them, "We'll be with you right to the end."

Local 11-0001 Recording Secretary Andrew Cameron said the company's refusal to compromise ended a 20-year run without a strike at the mine.

"At the end of the day, the company isn't your friend," he said. "We're standing between them and their profits."

Solidarity, Preparation Keys to Hard Bargaining

Local 9449 faced formidable challenges in 2022 when unfair labor practices forced members into a 15-week strike at the fly-in/fly-out Raglan Mine in Quebec.

The 630 workers at Glencore's nickel mine lived in numerous locations. They had no central place to meet, not even a site for a picket line, Local President Guillaume Maltais recalled during a panel discussion on hard bargaining.

But solidarity and preparation won the day, he said, noting workers voted by a 97.5 percent margin to strike despite the logistical challenges and then remained united through effective communication on social media.

"We broke them," Maltais said of Glencore. "It can be done."

It's important for employers to understand that picking a fight with a USW local means an all-out battle against the entire union, he said, adding:

"There's no border and no tariffs on that."

District 11 Director Cathy Drummond, secretary of the Mining Council, moderated the panel discussion with Maltais and Local 11-0001's Cameron. She pointed out that miners effectively wield the same power in vastly different kinds of disputes.

"It is about preparation. Communication. Trust. Recognizing employer tactics. Supporting our bargaining committees. And most importantly, standing together," she said.

Forging Connections Today and Tomorrow

USW members shared experiences and insights at a series of workshops that covered topics such as AI, automation, building power, responsible mining, community engagement and suicide prevention.

"Unless we connect, there's so much that we're not going to know," observed Sharen Brownson, president of Local 9422, which represents workers at Impala Canada's Lac des Iles palladium mine in Ontario.

Over the years, Sharen has heard about the successes and setbacks that her fellow USW members have experienced and learned from them.

"I've learned how to take people's successes and turn those into our own, how to adapt so that we can have a win too."

USW members will continue that collaboration at future conferences.

Sullivan announced that the next sector-wide gathering will be in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in 2028, as the Mining Council begins to rotate conferences between the U.S. and Canada.

Click here(opens in new tab) for a gallery of photos from the Mining Conference.