Newmont Employees
Disgruntled former employees of Newmont’s Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co. spoke out about their recent termination for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Newmont officials announced the requirement in October that all employees must be fully vaccinated by Jan. 31. Employees who failed to comply were asked to either resign or be terminated.
The majority of Newmont’s employees are vaccinated, said Katie Blake, CC&V’s sustainability and external relations representative, speaking to the Courier for the Feb. 16 article.
The CC&V workforce, as of 2019, consisted of over 600 people living in the surrounding area, making the company one of the largest employers in Teller County.
Gabe Pyle, a former production driller for Newmont, was one who rebelled against the mandate.
“I didn’t feel the vaccine worked, unlike the one for polio, scarlet fever and chicken pox, which have been proven to work,” Pyle said. “I’ve never heard of a vaccine where, if you take it, you can still get sick.”
In fact, Pyle’s aunt died of COVID-19, after being vaccinated, he said. He and his mother both caught the virus in December. “It was pretty debilitating; we were both sick about 10 days,” he said.
The death of his aunt along with his and his mother’s illness confirmed Pyle’s position. Instead of becoming vaccinated, he said, “I decided to allow Newmont to terminate me.”
This month, Pyle starts a new job as a production driller with the Climax Mine in Leadville, which mines molybdenum.
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Like Pyle, Carolyn (who declined to use her real name for fear of retribution) started job searching in October. “I wasn’t really pursuing jobs that were in my field because I was hoping, hoping, that Newmont would reverse the order,” she said.
Carolyn based her hope on a Supreme Court decision in January would rescind the vaccine-or-test mandate for employees in companies with more than 100 workers. “The court knocked it down for anybody outside of health care,” she said.
As a result, she resigned after refusing the vaccine.
“I don’t think I need it, don’t want it, don’t trust it,” she said. “I wore a mask, stayed six feet apart and took a preventive health concoction of vitamins D, C and zinc. I’m healthy.”
Before leaving the company, Carolyn emptied her 401(k) retirement account to pay the bills. “I have a job now, thankfully, that doesn’t require vaccination,” she said. “But I’m making half of what I was making up there.”
A co-worker of Carolyn’s tried to get a religious exemption from the mandate, but was denied. So, he changed his mind about went for the shot.
“I couldn’t afford to lose my job,” said the employee, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. “I didn’t want to uproot my family.”
The vaccine requirement and subsequent terminations are affecting the remaining workforce in the mine, he said.
“People are pretty demoralized,” he said. This employee estimates that of 550 employees, 450 remain on the job.
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In a Feb. 23 Facebook post, former CC&V worker Cody Schwab wrote Feb. 23: “I can’t even begin to explain how upside down and insane my world is lately. After 21½ years at the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine, I was fired last month. It was a great place to work for a lot of reasons and I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to have continued my family’s legacy and been a fourth-generation Cripple Creek gold miner.”
Schwab adds that his son, Braden Schwab, is a fifth-generation family member to work in the mine. He was hired by Newmont about a year ago.
A 10-year CC&V mine employee who resigned over the mandate, Antonio Atencio takes issue with the agreement Newmont asked its non-vaccinated employees to sign. In part, Atencio said, by signing the agreement, employees agree not to talk about the company or the mandate.
During the pandemic, Newmont required employees to fill out documents related to COVID-19 daily, to include information about their specific work site and with whom the employee was working, Atencio said.
As well, Atencio disagrees with the vaccine requirement.
“If people want to take the shot, that’s their personal life,” he said. “I didn’t take the shot because I follow God no matter what. I read my Bible.”
Acknowledging that others who believe in God got the vaccine, Atencio said that’s their personal choice.
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In leaving his job with the mine, Atencio gives up an annual salary of $90,000, plus bonuses.
“Walking away is a hard thing to do, to make a decision that alters your whole life,” he said. “I’m going to relax for three months, then look for a job.”
Like others who quit jobs for COVID-related reasons during what is being called the Great Resignation, Atencio is looking back over the last 10 years.
“Now that I’m not there — I was up days, nights, days, nights — I’m seeing how hard it is on your body,” he said. “Extra-long days; I lost a lot of sleep. It’s not just me, because a lot of good employees have left, so the mine has lost a lot of knowledge.”
In an article published in the Feb. 16 edition of The Courier, Blake cited the reasons for Newmont’s vaccine mandate: “We are in a global pandemic and believe that vaccination is a critical tool to protect the health and safety of our workforce and the communities in which we work and live,” she said. “Newmont remains committed to the CC&V workforce and to a productive partnership with the communities of Cripple Creek and Victor.”
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, 4,737 Teller County residents were diagnosed with COVID-19, 317 people were hospitalized and 55 residents died.
