72-hour strike notice served by Fort McMurray education support workers

By Kabi Moulitharan 

 Global News
Posted November 9, 2024 

Educational support workers in Fort McMurray, Alta. could walk off the job as early as Wednesday after issuing a 72-hour strike notice to the public and catholic school divisions. The latest move stems from months of contract negotiations and forced mediation by the province, that was unsuccessful. Kabi Moulitharan reports.

Education support workers in Fort McMurray, Alta., could walk off the job as early as Wednesday, after issuing a 72-hour strike notice Friday to the public and Catholic school divisions.

The latest move stems from nine months of contract negotiations and forced mediation by the province, which was unsuccessful.

On Sept. 17, both CUPE 2554 and CUPE 2559 issued a strike notice. However, the provincial government intervened and appointed them to two dispute inquiry boards.

During that process, CUPE President 2554 Lynn Fleet said the two sides still couldn’t come to an agreement.
“We rejected the recommendations from the [Dispute Inquiry Board]. They weren’t offering us anything of substance,” Fleet told Global News. “We did do another strike vote. The public board was 99.1-per cent in favour of a strike.”
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CUPE 2554 represents educational assistants, librarians, custodians, and other support staff at the public division. CUPE 2559 represents those roles working at the Catholic division.

Members at both units plan to picket Wednesday morning at Dr. Karl A Clark Public School and Lady of the Rivers Catholic School. They plan to picket Thursday as well, though a location hasn’t been disclosed.

Beginning Nov. 18, both unions plan to strike on a rotating basis through various schools once or twice a week.

Classes will continue for most of the student body with limited resources. Students in specialized or assisted programs may be required to stay home.

CUPE 2559 President Danielle Danis says while they want to advocate for what they deserve, they want to make the least amount of impact on its students.

“It will cause some interruptions but at the same time, we’re trying to respect the balance of the students who need to be in schools, especially the most vulnerable students,” Danis told Global News.

Education support staff have been calling for wage increases and suitable working conditions.

They say their members are overburdened by the workloads and are pulled in several directions. They feel they can’t support their students adequately.

Danis adds her members’ salaries don’t keep up with cost of living. She says many of her colleagues are working two jobs to make ends meet.

“I should be making $7.84 more an hour to keep up with inflation so it’s really frustrating,” Danis said.


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In a joint statement released Friday, both presidents say their employers have also applied for a lockout notice which has been approved, but has not been served.

“Most places that do go on a strike are served lockout notice at the same time. There is really no difference. We’re on strike and they’ve locked us out. They have not served that to us, yet. ”

Education Minister Demetrios Nicholaides believes the strike will disrupt student learning and create challenges for families.

“My hope is that both parties can quickly overcome their challenges and bring stability to schools,” he said in a statement.

Canada Port Lockouts Back Trudeau Government Into a Corner Again

By Mathieu DionNovember 11, 2024 

(Bloomberg) -- Business groups are urging Justin Trudeau’s government to put an end to labor strife at Canada’s largest ports, as it did with railways in August, to avoid chaos in the country’s supply chains.

Hundreds of dock foremen at British Columbia ports have been locked out for a week. Montreal port employers did the same on Sunday, locking out 1,200 unionized employees after those workers rejected a contract offer that included pay increases of about 20% over six years.

Together, the work disruptions are affecting ports that handle some C$1.2 billion ($860 million) of goods a day, businesses say. They want Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon to force the matter to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which can order the sides to arbitration to resolve the dispute.

That’s the tool he deployed to end work stoppages at Canada’s two largest railways more than two months ago. But the government’s use of it has aroused discontent among some unions. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference is mounting a court challenge, saying the government’s actions in the railway dispute set a dangerous precedent by violating workers’ constitutional rights.

Soon afterward, the pro-union New Democratic Party tore up a parliamentary pact in which it had agreed to vote with Trudeau’s Liberals to pass key legislation. It’s not clear whether the government could get enough support now to pass a back-to-work bill, if it needed to do so to end the port dispute.


MacKinnon’s office declined to comment.

Michel Murray, a spokesperson for the Montreal Longshoremen’s Union, said in a statement that the port employers “act as bullies,” and if they refuse to negotiate, it means “they clearly want the federal government to intervene.”

“Nearly C$6 billion worth of goods are expected to arrive at the port over the next two weeks,” Michel Leblanc, chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal, said in a statement. “The urgency is real.”

Goldy Hyder, CEO of the Business Council of Canada, said the disputes “continue to weaken Canada’s economy and tarnish its reputation as a reliable trading partner.”

“Canada’s ports will continue to lose market share if the country’s reputation for labor instability isn’t corrected soon,” Hyder said in a Nov. 9 letter addressed to MacKinnon and Transport Minister Anita Anand.

The Montreal offer would have boosted average dockworker compensation to more than C$200,000 per year, according to a group of port employers.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

First B.C., now Montreal: What a pair of port shutdowns means for Canada

By Craig Lord Global News
Posted November 11, 2024

What hope existed for a resolution to a labour dispute crippling operations at B.C. ports evaporated this weekend. Employers and the union were scheduled to sit down for three days of mediated talks to end a lockout that has cost the Canadian economy billions. But as Alissa Thibault reports, the two sides didn't even meet face to face.

Locked-out workers at ports in British Columbia were joined on the picket lines by their peers in Montreal on Sunday night, stymying trade at Canada’s two largest marine trading hubs heading into the busy holiday shopping season.

While experts tell Global News that consumers will hopefully avoid a Christmas crunch, they also warn that the latest kinks in the Canadian supply chain could affect hopes for an economic rebound.

“This has been a constant drumbeat of disruptions in the logistics and transportation sector over the last year, year and a half,” says Fraser Johnson, professor of operations management at Western University’s Ivey Business School.

“It’s been a constant problem and a lot of headaches for Canadian companies.”

5:00 Impact of B.C. port shut down on Canada’s supply chain


The labour dispute shutting down cargo container traffic at British Columbia’s ports for a week now has shown little signs of moving towards resolution, with the parties breaking off talks on Saturday.

The next day, dock workers in Montreal voted to reject their employers’ latest offer, leading to another lockout starting Sunday evening.

Johnson tells Global News the ports in B.C. represent roughly 45 per cent of inbound marine shipments to Canada, with the Port of Montreal handling 10 per cent.

In other words, more than half of all goods coming into Canada by sea are currently disrupted by the twin shutdowns.

Risks to Canada's 'economic lifeline'

The Port of Vancouver facilitates the import of many goods from Asia, including electronics and other consumer goods, Johnson says. Both Vancouver and Montreal also bring in automotive parts and vehicles, he adds.

Johnson says the Port of Vancouver handles about $800 million a day in freight, while the Montreal terminals handle roughly half that, totalling more than $1 billion in daily trade.

Both the Vancouver and Montreal ports are also critical for getting Canadian exports to the world. Canadian agricultural and forestry products, oil and critical minerals all head to Asia and Europe through those channels.

“Trade is our economic lifeline. Trade is what drives our economy,” says Pedro Antunes, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada. “We keep seeing, repeatedly over the last number of years, snags that are affecting our ability to get our products to market.”

Pascal Chan of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce says the simultaneous disruptions at the ports means the country is effectively advertising that it’s closed for business.

Chan, who is the senior director of transportation, infrastructure and construction at the chamber, says in a statement that the last thing Canadians struggling with high living costs need is another trade disruption.

2:22  Business Matters: Canada’s economy stalled in August amid rail shutdown



The shutdowns at the ports come after operations at Canada’s two main railways were halted in August until the government stepped in, while B.C. ports and the St. Lawrence Seaway were disrupted last year.

Antunes tells Global News the series of labour disruptions in the Canadian supply chain compound trade concerns stoked by Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States. During the campaign, Trump proposed putting blanket tariffs on goods coming into the U.S. and championed “America-first” policies that could disrupt global trade patterns.

The world is becoming a more “insular” place and borders are becoming “thicker,” Antunes says.

If Canadian businesses continue to show that they can’t resolve labour disputes at the negotiating table, rising to the point of shutdowns, Antunes says that sends a message that foreign firms are taking bigger risks by setting up shop here.

“When businesses are looking where to invest and they need access to a U.S. consumer, for example, they’ll be looking south of the border more so if we keep having these snags in terms of our ability to get products out,” he says.

Global News reached out to Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon’s office on Monday for a comment about whether Ottawa was considering intervening in either dispute to get goods moving through the B.C. and Montreal ports again.

“The parties must understand the urgency of the situation and do the work necessary to reach an agreement. Canadians are counting on them,” a spokesperson from MacKinnon’s office said in a statement.

The spokesperson also pointed to a Nov. 7 statement from MacKinnon, which said that he was “closely monitoring” negotiations in both regions, adding that talks were progressing at an “insufficient pace.”

Port lockouts could intersect with Canada Post strike

With the busy holiday shopping season nearing, Johnson says he expects minimal impact on consumers. With the labour disruptions anticipated from businesses, many larger retailers were ordering stock in the summer and early fall to ensure their shelves were stocked for the holidays.

Any additional inventory needs will likely be routed through ports in the United States and shipped up across the Canadian land border, he says.

But Johnson warns that it’s more likely to be Canada’s small and medium-sized businesses — those without the extensive supply chains of megaretailers like the Walmarts of the world — who feel the pinch from the latest set of port lockouts.

“They don’t have the flexibility and the variety of alternatives in terms of shipping products. So we’ll probably see proportionally higher costs and probably greater delays and shortages as a result of the labour disruptions,” he says.

1:56  B.C. port lockout threatens Calgary small retailers as holiday season nears

The Retail Council of Canada warned Global News last week that with the chance of a Canada Post strike also looming, consumers and Canadian businesses should prepare for a “triple threat” of disruptions in the weeks ahead.

Matt Poirier, vice-president of federal government relations for the Retail Council of Canada, said he was concerned about not only getting merchandise on the shelves given the port strikes, but also getting goods to customers who order by delivery.

“A lot of small retailers in particular are really reliant on Canada Post to get the ordered goods to their customers,” he said. “It really does change the economics of the business model when you have to start looking at alternatives that could be pricier and especially when everyone else is, the prices spike and the service might not be as reliable.”

If the pair of labour disruptions are resolved in a timely fashion, Antunes doesn’t see the lockouts as a “game-changer” for Canada’s economy.

But he notes that the shutdowns come at an uncertain time for economic output. Canada’s latest real gross domestic product figures show the country is barely eking out growth in recent months.

Forecasters including the Bank of Canada, which has been lowering its benchmark interest rate in a bid to stimulate growth, are projecting an economic rebound in the next two years. But Antunes says those estimates are anything but a certainty, with consumers still stretched by mortgage renewals and a weakening labour market.

“The idea that we’ve successfully managed to get inflation down and have a soft landing and we’re going to see a re-emergence of growth, I think there’s still a lot of question marks around that,” he says.

“We’ve only seen a couple of days of disruption here. But again, anything that is longer-lasting will have implications on the strength of our recovery in the near term.”

— with files from Global News’ Sean Previl and The Canadian Press

 Port of Montreal lockout begins as dockworkers reject latest offer

By Sidhartha Banerje

 The Canadian Press
November 11, 2024 

WATCH - Montreal port workers lose guaranteed wages amid strike – Nov 2, 2024

Operations at the Port of Montreal were greatly reduced Monday as the employers’ association made good on a threat to lock out nearly 1,200 longshore workers if they didn’t accept what it called a final contract offer.

The lockout took effect at 9 p.m. Sunday, and the Maritime Employers Association is asking federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to intervene. MacKinnon’s office issued a statement Monday calling on both sides at the country’s second largest port to get back to the negotiating table.

“The parties must understand the urgency of the situation and do the work necessary to reach an agreement,” his office said. “Canadians are counting on them.”

The union told a news conference on Monday it is ready to return to the table as early as Tuesday. But Michel Murray, a union adviser with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the dock workers, said union overtures have received no response from the employer.

Murray told a news conference simultaneous lockouts in Montreal and Vancouver seem to be designed to force the federal government’s hand. Port workers in British Columbia are locked out amid a labour dispute involving more than 700 longshore supervisors, resulting in a paralysis of container cargo traffic at terminals across Canada’s west coast.

“We hope that the employer side will emerge from its silence of the past three weeks,” Murray said. “But clearly, when we look at what is happening, the lockout in Vancouver, the lockout in Montreal, we feel that it is a co-ordinated, planned attempt to increase the pressure on the federal government so that it intervenes in our file.”

2:11 Business Matters: Port of Montreal dockworkers hold one-day strike

Julie Gascon, chief executive of the Montreal Port Authority, warned of the economic consequences of a prolonged conflict.

“This lockout affects not only the 1,200 longshoremen directly impacted by the work stoppage, but it also impacts over 10,000 workers in the logistics sector, from trucking and railway employees to maritime agents and pilots,” she said in a statement.

“Logistics jobs are the first to be affected, which inevitably sets off a domino effect throughout the entire economy in the markets we serve.”

Gascon told reporters in an early morning news conference effects will trickle down to other parts of the economy.

“Today, the conflict is impacting the supply chain, but tomorrow, the conflict will impact factories as well, after that, it will be retailers,” she said, adding: “The best agreement is an agreement that is (reached) at the negotiating table.”

The Port of Montreal moves nearly $400 million in goods every day. The Port of Montreal said essential services will continue at the port, with liquid bulk terminals and the grain terminal among those remaining open.

The employers association in Montreal said it initiated the lockout after the unionized workers voted to reject a contract offer tabled last week. The Canadian Union of Public Employees says members voted 99.7 per cent to reject the proposal. The workers have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.

The union has said it would accept the same wage increases that were granted to its counterparts in Halifax or Vancouver — 20 per cent over four years. It is also concerned with scheduling and work-life balance.

Pascal Chan, senior director of transportation, infrastructure and construction at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the combined work stoppages affect the flow of $1.2 billion worth of goods every day.

“We need to see leadership from government that puts Canadian workers and businesses first by putting an end to these disputes and getting goods flowing again as quickly as possible,” Chan said in statement

Port of Montreal lockout underway after dockworkers overwhelmingly vote to reject employer offer

Maritime Employers Association calls on federal labour minister to intervene

Sidhartha Banerjee · The Canadian Press · Posted: Nov 10, 2024 

The Maritime Employers Association (MEA) issued the dockworkers' union what it called its final offer on Thursday, threatening to lock out workers at 9 p.m. Sunday if a deal wasn't reached. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

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The union representing some 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal has overwhelmingly rejected a deal with their employers' association, and a lockout at the facility is underway.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Union of Public Employees says members voted 99.7 per cent to reject the latest offer from the Maritime Employers Association (MEA).

The MEA issued the dockworkers' union what it called its final offer on Thursday, threatening to lock out workers at 9 p.m. Sunday if a deal wasn't reached.

Only essential services and activities unrelated to dockworkers would continue at the port after the deadline, the MEA had said. 

The Port of Montreal, which is Canada's second-biggest port and moves nearly $400 million in goods every day, said three terminals would remain operational in the event of a lockout: the Bickerdike terminal, liquid bulk terminals and the grain terminal.

MEA calls on labour minister to intervene

"The Maritime Employers Association condemns the negative result of the vote held by the Montreal Longshoremen's Union on the final offer submitted Thursday and has no choice but to declare a lockout this evening at 9 p.m.," the MEA said in a statement.

"The MEA reiterates its request to the Minister of Labour, Steven MacKinnon, to intervene to resolve the impasse as quickly as possible. "

• Talks break off in B.C. port dispute as bid to end multi-day lockout fails

• Rippling effects of B.C. port lockout could reach Calgary businesses

"If the MEA had respected the collective bargaining process, we would have found solutions and avoided a conflict at the Port of Montreal," said CUPE consultant Michel Murray in a news release. 

He said "nothing in the offer" reflects the union's demands. 

In an email, a spokesperson for the MEA noted the "unique benefits" enjoyed by its dockworkers, including a "very generous pension plan" as well as a wage guarantee program.

The Montreal lockout means workers at both of the country's largest ports will be locked out, with workers in British Columbia locked out since Monday in an ongoing contract dispute at the Port of Vancouver, the largest port in Canada.

WATCH | Dockworkers locked out at Montreal port: 

Roughly 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal rejected a deal Sunday evening, triggering a lockout at Canada's second-busiest port. It added to a string of labour disruptions including a lockout at the Port of Vancouver and a looming Canada Post strike.

Employer tabled 'final' offer Thursday evening

The employer tabled on Thursday evening what it described as a "final, comprehensive offer," and called on the union to reply by 8 p.m. Sunday whether it will accept the six-year pact. The offer came with a 72-hour lockout notice.

The MEA said last week its new offer includes a three per cent salary increase each year for four years and a 3.5 per cent increase for the two subsequent years.

The increases would bring a longshore worker's total average compensation at the Port of Montreal to more than $200,000 per year at the end of the contract.

The association added that it is asking longshore workers to provide at least one hour's notice when they will be absent from a shift — instead of one minute — to help reduce management issues "which have a major effect on daily operations."

On Friday, a Syndicat des débardeurs du port de Montréal official said the new offer contained just "cosmetic changes" and doesn't address issues about scheduling, a major flashpoint in talks.

WATCH | What the ongoing B.C. port lockout means for businesses, Canadians: 

Hundreds of workers rallied near the docks in East Vancouver to demand a new contract on Friday, as the port lockout entered its fifth day. Employers and union reps are set to meet with federal mediators this weekend, but, as Jon Hernandez reports, many small business owners are already concerned about impacts.

The union had said it had no issue submitting the latest offer to a vote, but added it was unlikely to be supported as members have already rejected two similar offers by secret ballot.

The union has said it will accept the same increases that were granted to its counterparts in Halifax or Vancouver — 20 per cent over four years. It is also concerned with scheduling and work-life balance.

On Friday morning, the union and employers association spent two hours with a federal mediator without making any progress.

Workers have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.

Montreal Dockworker Lockout Will Impact Canada in ‘Matter of Days’

Glenn Taylor
Mon, November 11, 2024



Union dockworkers at the Port of Montreal have been locked out after rejecting a “final” contract offer from the Maritime Employers Association (MEA), shutting down all four major container terminals at the hub and further straining supply chains on both of Canada’s coasts.

The lockout of all 1,197 members of the Local 375 branch of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) began Sunday night at 9 p.m., significantly widening the scope of an ongoing work stoppage.

More from Sourcing Journal

Montreal Port Employers Threaten Lockout if 'Final' Offer Not Accepted

Montreal Port Calls for Strike Intervention, While West Coast Endures Backlog

The Port of Montreal moves $400 million Canadian dollars ($287,000) worth of cargo every day, second in the country only to the Port of Vancouver, which is experiencing a foremen lockout of its own across major British Columbia ports. The B.C. ports remain open.

The Montreal Port Authority raised alarm over a possible prolonged conflict, with CEO Julie Gascon saying at a Monday morning news conference that there will be “catastrophic” consequences for the Canadian economy if the lockout continues. She had previously called on the Canadian federal government to intervene in the labor action.

Gascon said it was only a “matter of days” before the lockout is felt by citizens daily. She estimated that over 10,000 workers in the logistics sector—from trucking and railway employees to maritime agents and pilots—will feel the brunt of the work stoppage.

Rail operations at the port’s Viau, Maisonneuve, Cast and Racine terminals have been suspended. Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) is not accepting any exports to the Port of Montreal due to the strike. Canadian National Railway suspended and removed all capacity at inland terminals for exports destined to Montreal’s terminals.

Maersk said Saturday it has three vessels underway with planned calls in Montreal. However, it is considering omitting Montreal and proceeding to Canada’s other major East Coast ports, Halifax and St. John, as part of its contingency plans in case the port doesn’t reopen. CMA CGM was evaluating whether one of its ships could import discharge at Halifax instead of Montreal.

“Each container that is not moved here in Montreal is a missing piece in the Canadian economy,” Gascon said. “Today, the lockout affects the logistics chain. Tomorrow, it’ll be the factories. After that, it’ll be the retailers.”

Roughly 320 CUPE longshoremen had already been on an indefinite strike since Oct. 31 as the union seeks out a new contract. But that strike only impacted two of the Montreal port’s terminals, which handled 40 percent of container traffic.

A larger overtime strike that affected all major terminals has been in place since Oct. 10, with a full-day strike taking place Oct. 27.

The MEA’s latest offer provided for a 3 percent salary increase per year for four years and a 3.5 percent increase for the two subsequent years, retroactive to the beginning of 2024. When the contract expires, the total average compensation of a longshore worker at the port would be more than $200,000 Canadian dollars ($144,000) per year.

According to the union, 99.7 percent of the members voted the deal down.

“The hostile offer was rejected because the employer refused to negotiate. Nothing in the offer reflects the union’s demands,” said Michel Murray, union advisor at CUPE, in a statement. “If the MEA had respected the collective bargaining processes, solutions would have been found and a conflict at the Port of Montreal would have been avoided.”

According to the union, the new contract offer doesn’t address issues regarding scheduling and work-life balancing, which have been major sticking points in the negotiations.

On Sunday night, the MEA reiterated its request to Canada’s Minister of Labour, Steven MacKinnon, to intervene to resolve the impasse as quickly as possible.

“A number of economic and maritime players across the country have made the same request in recent weeks to get things moving,” the employers said. “Like the MEA, they all want this dispute to be resolved so that Québec and Canadian businesses can no longer be held hostage and rely on predictable and uninterrupted operations at the Port of Montreal.”

Tagging MacKinnon in a statement on X, Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet said, “This conflict will have major consequences on the economy if it continues. It is imperative that Ottawa act quickly to bring the parties to an agreement as soon as possible and restore activities at the Port.”

Marc Cadieux, president of the Quebec Trucking Association (ACQ), said that the labor disruption directly impacts land transportation and the hundreds of jobs associated with it.

“Nearly 2,000 trucks move through the Port of Montreal every day. The freezing of its activities will have an immediate impact on many carriers who may have to consider layoffs,” Cadieux said in a statement. “The ACQ strongly urges the responsible stakeholders to find a solution to restart commercial activities at this crucial point of global trade as soon as possible and avoid compromising our reputation on the international stage.”

The Port of Montreal longshore workers have been without a new collective bargaining agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.

Lockout at Port of Montreal could be

 'catastrophic' for economy, port authority

 says

CBC
Mon, November 11, 2024 

A lockout at the Port of Montreal began Sunday evening. The CEO of the Montreal Port Authority said the labour dispute will disrupt the Canadian economy if it doesn't get resolved. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press - image credit)

If the lockout of dockworkers in Montreal persists, there will be "catastrophic" consequences for the Canadian economy, particularly in Quebec and Ontario, the local port authority warns.

On Monday morning, Port of Montreal CEO Julie Gascon held a news conference, less than 12 hours after the lockout began.

The lockout is the latest escalation in a labour dispute that has heated up in recent weeks. The Port of Montreal moves $400 million worth of goods every day and is Canada's second busiest port after Vancouver, which is also mired in a labour dispute. A lockout also began there last Monday.

On Thursday, the Maritime Employers Association (MEA) tabled what it described as a final offer, which came with a 72-hour lockout notice.

The MEA threatened to lock out workers as of Sunday at 9 p.m. if they didn't accept the offer.

The dockworkers overwhelmingly rejected the offer, with 99.7 per cent of members voting against it, according to a spokesperson for the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

Gascon said it's only a "matter of days" before the effects of the lockout are felt on a daily basis by everyday people, not just the workers. She said the lockout directly affects 1,200 workers at the port, but 10,000 other workers who depend on the port's flow of goods, like truck drivers and marine pilots, could also be caught in the dispute.

She also mentioned businesses, big and small, who rely on materials delivered through the port.

"Each container that is not moved here in Montreal is a missing piece in the Canadian economy," Gascon said.

"Today, the lockout affects the logistics chain. Tomorrow, it'll be the factories. After that, it'll be the retailers."

Some essential services like wheat transportation continue but most merchandise is frozen.

A sign reading "closed" is shown next to the entrance to a terminal at the Port of Montreal in Montreal, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, where a lockout of dock workers has been declared by the employer.

A sign reading "closed" is shown next to the entrance to a terminal at the Port of Montreal in Montreal, Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, where a lockout of dock workers has been declared by the employer. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

'Dockworkers won't get down on one knee'

Last week, the MEA said its newest offer includes a three per cent salary increase each year for four years and a 3.5 per cent increase for the two subsequent years. The association says those increases would bring the Montreal dockworkers' total average compensation to more than $200,000 per year at the end of that proposed contract.

The association added that it wants dockworkers to provide at least one hour's notice when they will be absent from a shift — instead of one minute — to help reduce management issues "which have a major effect on daily operations."

The union representing dockworkers, the Syndicat des débardeurs du port de Montréal, dismissed the offer. It said it only contains "comestic changes" and doesn't address issues around scheduling, a major sticking point in negotiations.

On Monday, a few hours after the Port of Montreal met with the media, the dockworkers' union, held a news conference of its own. For more than a decade, no progress has been made on issues such as work-life balance and work schedules, declared Michel Murray, the union's spokesperson.

"The lockout in Vancouver, the lockout in Montreal, we see as a co-ordinated, planned group effort to put pressure on the government to intervene in our case," he said.

Asked about the salary increase proposed by the employer, Murray replied that it was "snake oil" and that it was not true that dockworkers could earn $200,000 at the end of the contract.

"To earn 200,000, a dockworker would have to earn $97 an hour all year round. The employer's offer in 2029 is $51 an hour," he said.

Murray described a "vengeful, contemptuous" employer, pointing to "1,200 disciplinary measures per year" and workers heavily monitored by surveillance cameras.

"As long as there's no change in this 13-year-old philosophy, labour relations will remain the same and the dockworkers won't break. Dockworkers won't get down on one knee," said Murray.

"Dockworkers will be proud to work and to give productivity when they are respected by the employers association and by these maritime companies."

Murray says his group has been trying for three weeks to get the employer's availability dates to resume negotiations.

On Monday, the MEA declined CBC News's request for an interview.

'The urgency is real'

The collective agreement between the maritime employers and the dockworkers expired on Dec. 31, 2023.

The labour dispute ramped up in late September, when the workers rejected an offer and approved a strike mandate.

Dockworkers went on a three-day strike on Sept. 30, closing two terminals — Viau and Maisonneuve — that handle more than 40 per cent of the port's container traffic.

Since Oct. 31, the union launched an indefinite strike that has shut down those two terminals.

In a statement sent by his office on Monday, Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said the parties involved in this dispute must understand the "urgency of the situation and do the work necessary to reach an agreement."

"Canadians are counting on them," reads the statement.

The Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal is urging the government to force the re-opening of operations at the Port of Montreal.

 

Germany turns on the most powerful generator in history: It’s not a nuclear power plant

by Kelly L.
November 8, 2024



Credits: Sunfire


Germany is going all-out to join the green hydrogen energy revolution with energy company RWE’s new 300 MW hydrogen gas production plant in Lingen in Lower Saxony. In the project’s third phase, companies Sunfire and Bilfinger were brought on board to get a 100 MW alkaline electrolyzer into operation, which is set to start producing hydrogen in 2027. Did you se a nuclear power plant on the image? Let’s take another look.

Groundbreaking gas plant will generate hydrogen for Europe

RWE’s Lingen hydrogen gas production plant is a major achievement not only for Germany but for the whole of the continent. The plant was commissioned to specifically supply industrial clients in Lower Saxony and the North Rhine-Westphalia regions, but there’s a bigger picture in mind. The production installation is also integrated with the European Hydrogen Backbone, a collaboration to make hydrogen accessible across Europe through an extensive network of pipelines. The network is targeted at areas with a high demand for hydrogen, such as major shipping ports or industrial centers, which will contribute significantly to the EU’s broader vision to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

The Lingen plant aligns with German and European Union climate targets, indicating the commitment to clean energy solutions for the long-term future. On a smaller scale, making hydrogen available to the average consumer empowers them with more sustainable options when purchasing vehicles, for example, enabling them to move towards fossil fuel alternatives.
Sunfire’s 100 MW electrolyzer set to start operating in 2027: It’s not a nuclear power plant

Sunfire, a German company specializing in fuel cell technology and high-temperature electrolysis, is working with RWE (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG) to get the state-of-the-art 100 MW alkaline electrolyzer pumping out hydrogen gas by 2027. This is not the only form of hydrogen generation that the Lingen plant utilizes, but it will add significantly to the plant’s output and, therefore, the reach of the product. The installation comprises 10 ultra-efficient pressurized modules, each producing 10 MW of green hydrogen.

When the electrolyzer is completely operational in 2027, the plant’s output will be two tons of hydrogen an hour, going a long way to meeting Germany’s industrial and manufacturing demands and replacing greenhouse gas-emitting systems in the process.

How does an alkaline electrolyzer work?

Alkaline electrolysis is a chemically reactive process of producing hydrogen gas from electricity and water. An alkaline electrolyte agent, usually a potassium hydroxide (KOH) or sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution, is needed to split the water molecules into hydrogen gas (H₂) and oxygen gas (O₂).

The Lingen plant’s 100 MW electrolyzer will be renewably powered by solar and wind energy, making the entire operation environmentally compliant. The hydrogen gas is mostly intended for various industrial applications in the region, making it possible for these operations to switch to clean energy, but some may be stored and transported further afield.

The advantages of hydrogen gas

The green energy revolution is sweeping the globe and technology is advancing at a phenomenal pace. Alternative fuels and sources of energy are a technological and developmental priority, especially in the transportation and manufacturing industries. All forms of hydrogen have a place in the race, and here are the benefits of hydrogen gas when used as a fuel:Efficiency: Hydrogen fuel cells deliver a high energy output compared to other kinds of fuels.
Versatility: Hydrogen gas can be used for heating, in vehicle powertrains, to create electricity, and to power machinery.
Environmentally safe: The only byproduct of hydrogen gas in fuel cells is water, making it one of the most environmentally friendly options to fossil fuels available.
Storage: Hydrogen is easy to store for long periods of time.
Contributions to the grid: Hydrogen can be utilized when other forms of renewable energy, such as wind or solar power, are not available.

It’s clear that Germany’s contribution to eradicating carbon emissions worldwide is a good example of how this can be carried out sustainably while promoting growth in the sector as a whole.

America fires up largest hydrogen generator in history: 3 tons per day in this state

by Kelly L.
November 10, 2024

Credits: SoHyCal

North America has cemented itself firmly in the green hydrogen game with the first operational plant in the United States. H2B2 Electrolysis Technologies owns the solar-powered hydrogen generator and has named the plant SoHyCal, alluding to its location in California’s Central Valley. The facility, which secured $3,96 million in funding, is expected to produce three tons of hydrogen each day, which will go a long way in the drive to eradicate carbon emissions and adopt clean energy.

SoHyCal unveiled as a pioneer of conservational hydrogen

The process of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis technology is used to produce conservational hydrogen from biogas with a capacity of three tons a day, which is the equivalent of a 100-vehicle fleet traveling around 3,000 miles each, which is about the same distance as driving across the entire United States—every day! Spanish company Ingeteam, which specializes in energy conservation and management, is competently in charge of the cutting-edge PEM system.

Pedro Pajares, CEO of H2B2 USA, promoted the project as an example to others:


“In the quest for a greener energy transition, SoHyCal represents a cornerstone in California’s commitment to developing and promoting clean and sustainable hydrogen fuel technologies. The project is poised to significantly contribute to the surging demand for hydrogen, particularly for transportation applications, the reduction of emissions, and the decarbonization in mobility.”

Renewable hydrogen produced by renewable energy

Conservational hydrogen supplier H2B2’s 100% renewably powered plant SoHyCal is ready to revolutionize the energy market and impact the transport sector, especially in North America. Not only does it produce hydrogen as a clean energy product, but the plant is also powered by photovoltaic energy generated in an integrated solar power system. This means that the entire operation is sustainable, from the energy used to the power produced.

Benefits for the State of California and beyond

California is firmly behind the carbon-free revolution, and its goals are reflected in the support extended to the development of the SoHyCal hydrogen fuel plant. Under its main goal, the Californian administration also wants to see hydrogen refueling stations installed across the San Joaquin Valley and San Francisco Bay areas. There are numerous types of vehicles capable of operating on hydrogen, including cars, trucks, and buses, that will soon depend on the supply network and justify the installation of the infrastructure.

Among other benefits, this will encourage more transport customers to transition from gasoline and diesel to responsibly sourced hydrogen, ultimately leading to decreased emissions and improved air quality.

Global standards for ecological hydrogen production

SoHyCal goes beyond being an achievement for North America, it also has global relevance. The Hydrogen Valley Platform (H2V), which is a global forum for sharing information about significant hydrogen projects, identified SoHyCal as a role model for hydrogen generation projects on other continents.

Hydrogen is becoming an increasingly attractive option for numerous industries as technology and performance advance, such as power generation, transportation, and industrial manufacturing. The market for hydrogen is expected to be worth $10 trillion by 2030, which puts H2B2 in a position to take a lead in the emerging market. China is another contender, with hydrogen production and export increasingly accounting for a portion of the Asian country’s GDP.

Benefits of hydrogen as a renewable fuel

There are several advantages of hydrogen in fuel applications:Zero emissions: The only byproduct that hydrogen fuel produces is water vapor.

Energy efficiency: This means more “value” derived from the volume of full, resulting in longer ranges.

Industrial applications: Hydrogen is ideal for high-power applications like manufacturing, aviation, and shipping, where batteries are not capable of delivering sustained periods of high-power output.

Fast refueling: Hydrogen tanks are faster to refuel than charging batteries in electric vehicles, taking about the same amount of time as gasoline or diesel vehicles. This makes it an attractive choice for long-distance transportation and public transport.

The time of hydrogen is rising, and the United States is rising with it as the world looks to clean fossil fuel alternatives.

Is hydrogen the fuel of the future?

By Johanna Gardener • Updated: 10 Nov 2024 •  Euro Weekly News

Hydrogen production plant will hope to eventually provide hydrogen across Europe Credit: Shutterstock:Scharfsinn

Germany is showing its compliance with green initiatives as it turns on the most powerful hydrogen generator in Lingen, Lower Saxony.

The year 2024 seems to be leading the way in the push for a greener Europe and a more eco-friendly planet. With the promotion of hydrogen and electricity-fuelled vehicles, as well as new initiatives across many sectors to sustain our changing planet, baby steps towards global collaboration in protecting our planet appear to be advancing.

Germany is one country which is taking the question seriously. The country is going all-out to join the green hydrogen energy revolution. And it comes in the form of energy company RWE’s new 300 MW hydrogen gas production plant in Lingen in Lower Saxony.

What country is best for green hydrogen?

The hydrogen gas production plant is not only a significant achievement for Germany, but also for the rest of Europe. Despite the fact that the plant is currently only commissioned for specific supply in Lower Saxony and the North Rhine-Westphalia regions, forward-thinking plans include extending this further. The production installation is in-line with the European Hydrogen Backbone, which aims to make hydrogen accessible across Europe through an extensive system of pipelines. In order to control greenhouse gas emissions, hydrogen supplies will eventually be aimed at areas with high hydrogen demand including major shipping ports.

New hydrogen plant is compliant with European Union‘s climate targets

The Lingen Plant assimilates both Germany and the European Union’s climate targets for clean energy solutions for the foreseeable future. Making hydrohgen a feasible and available option for the average consumer is also a step in the right direction, especially when buying vehicles where non petrol or diesel vehicles are an alternative.

German company, Sunfire specializes in fuel cell technology and high-temperature electrolysis. Right now it is working with RWE (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG) in a push to enable the revolutionary 100 MW alkaline electrolyzer to be ready by 2027 to pump out hydrogen gas. Lingen does have other forms of hydrogen generation, but this is an important addition for the plant’s output. Its installation is made up of 10 ultra-efficient pressurized modules, which individually produce 10 MW of green hydrogen.

What does a hydrogen electrolyser do?

Hopefully, by 2027, the electrolyser will be fully operational and two tons of hydrogen an hour will be supplied. This matches demands for Germany’s industry and manufacturing sectors and, at the same time, meets requirements for eco-friendly regulations.

Many might be asking: What is an electrolyser and how does it contribute to hydrogen production? Alkaline electrolysis is a chemically-reactive process, whereby hydrogen gas is produced through a process involving electricity and water. An alkaline electrolyte agent – most commonly, a potassium hydroxide (KOH) or sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution – is used to split water molecules into hydrogen gas (H₂) and oxygen gas (O₂).

Solar and wind power will power Lingen’s new electrolyzer ensuring that it operates fully via green systems. Although it will be supplied locally, clean hydrogen energy can also be stored and transported elsewhere.

What are the advantages of using hydrogen as a fuel?

Hydrogen gas is a bastion in the technological and developmental priorities listed on the EU’s agenda. It has numerous benefits including high efficiency and high energy output compared to other fuels. It can be used for heating, to create electricity and for machine power. More importantly, it is one of the most environmentally-friendly choices due to its only byproduct being water. Long term, it has a durable storage capacity and is a reliable source when other renewable energies like solar and wind energy are hard to come by.

Germany is clearly setting the trend for the rest of Europe: it shows us that whilst responding to the demands of industry and manufacture, countries can also mitigate the eradication of the carbon footprint.

Let’s hope that it serves as an example. Better still, that the whole of Europe can soon get a slice of the action!

Bipolar disorder: how lithium as a treatment fell out of favour


As UK diagnoses have doubled, prescriptions of the treatment have halved. While experts feud over its use, many patients feel it is an effective way of managing their condition


Christine Ro

THE GUARDIAN/OBSERVER
Sat 9 Nov 2024 


Occupational stress is a trigger for Rebecca Wilde, a 32-year-old tech worker in Buckinghamshire. Four years ago, work pressures combined with family issues affected her sleep, leading to a severe manic episode. She was hospitalised for a month and a half, and diagnosed with type 1 bipolar disorder, also known as bipolar 1, a mood condition that can have devastating consequences if not managed well. Mania, and sometimes psychosis, is present in type 1.

Wilde was experiencing both: at one point, she thought she could talk to dogs. She was put on the antipsychotic drug olanzapine and another mood stabiliser, lithium. She has now been taking lithium alone for a year, and it has been transformative. “On the lithium, I definitely feel like me,” she says.


While Wilde was transitioning to lithium only, researchers were furiously debating the evidence around the drug. In 2023, the journal Bipolar Disorders published an editorial co-written by editor-in-chief Gin S Malhi, titled “Lithium first: not merely first line”. This asserted that lithium should be considered not only as one of several possible initial treatments for bipolar disorder, but as the first and foremost of these. Lithium “needs to be championed”, maintains Malhi, a visiting psychiatry professor at Oxford University.


But the publication ignited a storm. “It enraged me to see this editorial,” says Haim Belmaker, emeritus professor of psychiatry at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beersheba, Israel. In the absence of new data, “to me it was a terrible hubris for them to come out and suddenly, in a triumphal way, say that lithium was great”. Belmaker fired off a letter to the editor calling it a mistake to consider lithium the gold standard. This was published after eight peer reviews – a highly unusual amount of scrutiny. Three other commentaries then waded into the debate.

This is not the only heated dispute among lithium researchers from the past couple of years. A 2024 critique led to professors trading words such as “pseudoscience” and “extraordinarily venomous”. Feuds such as these point to the high stakes over the declining popularity of lithium.
Globally, the most common reason medical professionals give for not prescribing lithium is patients’ negative beliefs

Medicinal lithium is remarkable. There is more evidence of lithium’s effectiveness in managing bipolar disorder than for any other medicine. As a naturally occurring ion, lithium can’t be patented. And unlike most medicines, it’s not metabolised by the body.

Malhi explains why this is significant: “With lithium, the body can be thought of simply as a bucket of water with input and output of fluid. Then, whatever lithium you add gives you a plasma level. It means we can accurately make changes with sensitivity around plasma levels and clinical response and tolerability.”


Belmaker argues that lithium’s simplicity has made it alluring, but for some people this has hardened into an almost dogmatic belief in its superiority. Indeed, words such as “mystique” and “magic” pop up in the scientific literature around the medicine. It’s still not known how lithium works to stabilise moods.

Lithium’s potential to treat mood disorders began being discussed in earnest in the middle of the 20th century and was popularised in the 1960s and 70s. Research slowed after the 90s, when anticonvulsant and antipsychotic medicines started to be used for bipolar. Since then there’s been a decline in expertise about lithium, says Allan Young, chair of mood disorders at King’s College London. Resistance to the use of lithium has been building for decades.

A key reason is that lithium is cumbersome to manage. It works only within a very narrow range of doses; beyond this, lithium toxicity can develop quickly, sometimes fatally. Serious side-effects include damage to the kidneys, thyroid and parathyroid. Other side-effects, such as excessive thirst and urination, can disturb sleep.

Wilde, a keen runner, has noticed this. Initially, lithium would cause her hands to tremble with dehydration. So she’s more careful about replenishing liquids and electrolytes. This has involved more night-time toilet visits, which she calls “more of an annoyance than anything”.

Overall, lithium proponents argue that concerns about side-effects are exaggerated, including by health workers who may wrongly attribute kidney issues to lithium. The alternatives can also carry side-effects; Wilde experienced stubborn weight gain from an antipsychotic drug.

The anticonvulsant sodium valproate provides another example. According to Young, when valproate was marketed as a mood stabiliser in the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies described it as safer during pregnancy than lithium, which can increase the likelihood of a baby being born with a heart defect. “That almost certainly turned out to be erroneous, because if anything, we think valproate is worse than lithium” for foetuses, Young says. But the damage had been done: “We saw a real step back in interest in terms of lithium.”
View image in fullscreenA 300mg lithium pill. The drug’s usage in the UK is dropping despite bipolar disorder diagnoses doubling between 2001 and 2018. Photograph: Chris Marshall/Getty Images


Because lithium is so finicky, plasma levels need to be checked with regular blood tests: initially weekly, and then every several months. Eating disorders and sudden weight loss can make lithium risky. In comparison, “other drugs can be started rather cavalierly”, according to Belmaker.

It can take months or even years to know how well someone is responding to lithium. This depends on a certain continuity of care and flow of information between clinicians. Yet some argue that all these requirements are actually a benefit of lithium, as they make close monitoring of the patient essential.

This may depend on each patient’s capacity to speak up for themselves. Wilde is organised and active, so she does not mind following up on communications among her various public and private doctors, and getting blood and organ tests every few months: “It’s worth the faff.” However, she acknowledges that she is young and relatively healthy, and lives close to medical care. The calculus might be different for someone with health complications, mobility issues, or routines frequently disrupted by mania or depression.

NHS data for medicines prescribed in England shows that in 2015/16, 51,682 patients were prescribed lithium carbonate (tablets) and 941 lithium citrate (liquid). This dwindled to 42,534 and 822 in 2023/24.

Since 2014, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) guidelines has recommended lithium as the only first-line maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder in the UK. Lithium would have been expected to trend up based on this guidance, as UK bipolar diagnoses more than doubled between 2001 and 2018, according to a sample of electronic medical records. Instead, lithium prescribing for patients with bipolar dropped from 31% to 16%.skip past newsletter promotion


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Joseph Hayes, a psychiatry professor at University College London, co-authored the medical records study. With the overstretched state of the NHS and the scarcity of specialist bipolar clinics, “we’ve set up a mental healthcare service that makes it quite difficult to initiate lithium”, Hayes says. “There are clinicians who believe they can’t safely prescribe it,” even though in his experience lithium is distinct from other drugs in allowing some patients to thrive, not just get by.

“Lithium is woefully under-prescribed in the UK,” says Simon Kitchen, chief executive of the charity Bipolar UK. “Increasing lithium use means even more people living with bipolar will be able to stay well, keep out of hospital, get back into the workplace and live the lives they deserve.”
If lithium was new and drug companies could profit from it, they would shout from the rooftops about its effectiveness


Lithium’s declining use is a worldwide trend, though especially marked in North America. In North America, Europe and Australia, between 1998 and 2020, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics and antidepressants were all prescribed more often than lithium to people with bipolar disorder. Globally, the most common reason medical professionals give for not prescribing lithium is patients’ negative beliefs.

It’s less surprising that lithium would be underused in the US – with its complicated swirl of insurance policies, medical lawsuits, and pharmaceutical advertising. On the other hand, in low- and middle-income countries, insufficient resources for monitoring lithium are especially concerning.

So a niggling question is why lithium use has also dropped in countries such as the UK. Michael Gitlin, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, says that while some Europeans may view Americans “as like children who are distracted by shiny new drugs”, the shiny new drug factor isn’t limited to the US. In 2023, Gitlin, Malhi and colleagues issued a “call to arms” to stem the decline of lithium therapy.

Lithium’s venerable status may actually be working against it. Because it has been around longer than any other drug to treat bipolar disorder, it’s had longer to rack up a history of potential side-effects. Lithium has been subject to lingering stigma from the antipsychiatry movements of earlier decades and the social media-amplified stigma from the critical psychiatry movement today, according to Hayes. Some psychiatrists report that patients have formed negative impressions of lithium long before it’s suggested to them as a treatment.

There’s another risk of complacency. Because, as Young says, bipolar is “such a highly recurrent disorder”, long-term maintenance is important though sometimes underappreciated. It can be dangerous to discontinue lithium, he warns. “One of the sad situations is if someone has responded really well to lithium and then they stop it, they may not respond that well to being reintroduced. And it can be quite a rocky road to getting someone back to recovery.”
View image in fullscreenOne in 150 adults, around 40 million people worldwide, live with bipolar disorder. Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images


Some researchers report that it’s becoming ever more challenging to obtain research funding for lithium. Pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to fund studies or the marketing of lithium, which will never be a big earner unless they bundle it into novel compounds. “If lithium was a new drug today and someone could make a profit from it, I think drug companies would be shouting from the rooftops about how effective it is,” Hayes says.

Even getting data for research can be tough, reports Carol Crean, an associate professor in physical and materials chemistry at Surrey University. Her team has been developing less invasive methods for monitoring lithium, such as wearable sensors. Wilde already uses a bipolar symptom-tracking app; continuous monitoring technologies would give people like her more power to check their own lithium levels, as people with diabetes do for blood glucose levels. But in a vicious circle, Crean says, “With fewer people taking the drug, it can be challenging to reliably get patient samples to help progress the work.”

The increasing sophistication of technology for personalised medicine could help reverse the plummeting of lithium use. If clinicians were able to more accurately predict who would do well on lithium, it could be a gamechanger. Young is part of an EU-funded research project seeking to determine the biomarkers related to lithium response, using tools including activity sensors, blood tests, machine learning and MRI techniques to directly measure the distribution of lithium in the brain. “This is probably one of the most exciting things to happen with lithium research in decades,” says Young.

Another possibility is that as the prescription of lithium for bipolar disorder keeps falling, interest in other applications of lithium will rise. Researchers continue to investigate its protective effects against suicide and dementia, and its supplementary use in microdoses. This has generated much excitement, though some remain concerned about the potential for overhyping lithium in new ways.

These controversies remain academic for patients who will ultimately choose the least bad option for them. Since childhood, Wilde has tried to avoid medication where possible. She still recognises the limitations of any mood stabiliser: “I really don’t think it’s just lithium that’s going to keep me, or anyone really for that matter, stable.” But combined with therapy, work-life balance, physical activity, medical checks and a strong support system, lithium has helped her get back to herself. “As long as it’s working for me, I will stay on it.”

Strange Metal From Beyond Our Planet Found in an Ancient Treasure Stash

09 November 2024
ByMichelle Starr
The Treasure of Villena. (Municipal Archaeological Museum of Villena)


Amidst a cache of glittering golden treasures from the Iberian Bronze Age, a pair of corroded objects might be the most precious of all.

A dull bracelet and a rusted hollow hemisphere decorated with gold are forged, researchers have found, not out of metal from beneath the ground, but with iron from meteorites that fell from the sky.


The discovery, led by now-retired head of conservation at the National Archeological Museum Spain, Salvador Rovira-Llorens, was revealed in a paper published in January, and suggests that metalworking technology and techniques were far more advanced than we thought in Iberia more than 3,000 years ago.


The Treasure of Villena, as the cache of 66 mostly gold objects is known, was discovered more than 60 years ago in 1963 in what is now Alicante in Spain, and has since come to be regarded as one of the most important examples of Bronze Age goldsmithing in the Iberian Peninsula, and the whole of Europe.

The iron-and-gold hemisphere, which has a maximum diameter of 4.5 centimeters (1.77 inches). (Villena Museum)

However, determining the age of the collection has been somewhat difficult to do, thanks to two objects: a small, hollow hemisphere, thought to be part of a scepter or sword hilt; and a single, torc-like bracelet. Both have what archaeologists have described as a "ferrous" appearance – that is, they seem to be made of iron.


In the Iberian Peninsula, the Iron Age – where smelted terrestrial iron began to replace bronze – didn't start until around 850 BCE. The problem is that the gold materials have been dated to between 1500 and 1200 BCE. So working out where the ferrous-looking artifacts sit in the context of the Treasure of Villena has been something of a puzzle.


But iron ore from Earth's crust is not the only place source of malleable iron. There's a number of pre-Iron Age iron artifacts around the world that were forged from the stuff of meteorites. Perhaps most famous is the meteoritic iron dagger of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, but there are other Bronze Age weapons made of the material, and they were very highly prized.


There is a way to tell the difference: iron from meteorites has a much higher nickel content than iron dug out of Earth's ground. So researchers obtained permission from the Municipal Archaeological Museum of Villena, which houses the collection, to carefully test the two artifacts, and determine just how much nickel they contained.

The iron bracelet, which measures 8.5 centimeters (3.35 inches) across. (Villena Museum)

They carefully took samples of both artifacts, and subjected the material to mass spectrometry to determine their composition. In spite of the high degree of corrosion, which alters the elemental makeup of the artifact, the results strongly suggest that both the hemisphere and the bracelet were made from meteoritic iron.

This neatly solves the dilemma of how the two artifacts align with the rest of the collection: they were made around the same period, dating back to around 1400 to 1200 BCE.

"The available data suggest that the cap and bracelet from the Treasure of Villena would currently be the first two pieces attributable to meteoritic iron in the Iberian Peninsula," the researchers explain in their paper, "which is compatible with a Late Bronze chronology, prior to the beginning of the widespread production of terrestrial iron."


Now, because the objects are so badly corroded, the results aren't conclusive. But there are more recent, non-invasive techniques that could be applied to the objects to obtain a more detailed set of data that would help cement the findings, the team suggest.

The findings were published in Trabajos de Prehistoria.