Ekati Union's "Dirty Diamonds" Campaign

In an attempt to increase public awareness of the ongoing strike at the Ekati diamond mine in Canada, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), has launched a "Dirty Diamonds" campaign against mine owners BHP Billiton in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal today.

PSAC is asking consumers not to buy Ekati diamonds being produced by strikebreakers under the Aurias and CanadaMark trademarks behind union picket lines as the union fights to win a fair first collective agreement for nearly 400 Ekati workers on strike since April 7.

“BHP Billiton is going to feel increasing heat around the world until it reaches a fair contract with Ekati diamond mine workers," said Jean-Francois Des Lauriers, PSAC Executive Vice-President-North. "We will be telling readers of The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal that they should not buy

Canada's own conflict diamonds - diamonds being produced despite a labor conflict."

Des Lauriers said BHP Billiton has been marketing Ekati diamonds as "conflict free" compared to diamonds produced in war-torn African nations but potential buyers are not yet aware of the strike by Ekati's workers and the company's failure to negotiate a fair contract.

"We believe consumers who care about human rights and fair treatment of workers anywhere in the world will not want to purchase Ekati diamonds until workers there have a fair collective agreement," Des Lauriers said. "And we intend to tell the world that BHP Billiton is using strikebreakers to produce dirty diamonds at Ekati - diamonds that consumers should not buy because of this labor conflict."

Todd Parsons, President of the Union of Northern Workers component of

PSAC, said retail jewelers are marketing the Aurias and CanadaMark diamonds as "conflict free" and not "blood diamonds" produced in war-torn countries like Sierra Leone and the Congo.

"We strongly support efforts to boycott blood diamonds in order to help those diamond workers around the world get fair treatment and we expect that people who have refused to buy blood diamonds will also want to support our Ekati workers who are on strike exercising their democratic right to join a union and get a contract," Parsons said.

The newspaper ads can be seen online at: www.psacnorth.com. The ads ask readers to send BHP Billiton a message supporting a fair contract for Ekati workers.

Ekati produces 6 percent of the world's diamond supply by value or 4 percent by weight and yields 3 to 5 million carats annually. It is located 300 km northeast of Yellowknife and 200 km south of the Arctic Circle.