Voisey's Bay workers join major Canadian nickel strike

USW Voisey's Bay workers have joined fellow Vale Inco union members who have been on strike at Sudbury and Port Colborne since July 13th.

RENO, NV - 

More than 200 Vale Inco Voisey's Bay nickel workers began a strike at midnight Saturday, joining more than 3,000 United Steelworkers at Vale Inco mines in Greater Sudbury and the Port Colborne refinery who have been on strike since July 13th.

Negotiations between Vale Inco and the union in Voisey's Bay broke off in June.  A Vale Inco spokesman told Bloomberg that no negotiations are scheduled.

Officials with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union Tuesday will join the picket line at the Copper Cliff Smelter.

In a news release, Wayne Fraser, director of District 6 of the Steelworkers, said, "We knew that when our Conservative Federal Government began giving away our natural resources to foreign-owned companies that our struggle for decent contracts would increase. Our members have negotiated forward-looking and long-term contracts that have been positive for our members, the community, and the company. It's just wrong that Vale is now trying to eliminate all that."

Vale closed most of its Sudbury operations on May 1st for maintenance and decided to completely stop production on June 1st. Vale started a month-long shutdown at its plant in Thompson in the province of Manitoba last week.

Union officials claim that if the strike is long, it could force the Brazilian miner to declare force majeure on nickel by late August or early September.

Among the unresolved issues is Vale's plan for a two-tiered pension system to switch its workers from defined benefit plans to defined contribution pensions, and to impose a cap on bonuses now linked to nickel prices. The company also reportedly wants to impose a three-year wage freeze, and contract out the company's mobile equipment. 

SUBSCRIBE to Mineweb.com's free daily newsletter now.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

Disclaimer

MINEWEB is an interactive publication, with rolling deadlines through each day, commencing in the Sydney morning,  and concluding, 24 hours later,  in the Vancouver evening.  If you believe your side of an issue deserves inclusion, but has failed to meet one of our deadlines, you are invited to notify the Editor in Chief in Johannesburg, and we will include you in our editing and expanding on our stories. Email him at alechogg@gmail.com

Print story      Email story      Subscribe to free newsletter

Back

 

responses to this article

Name
Subject
Comment