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9 January, 2012
The Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) cited mining giant Vale with union interference in blocking the Vice President of United Steelworkers Local 6500 from entering work zones for representation purposes. The positive OLRB ruling came 16 months after a bitter, year-long strike between Brazil-based Vale and the USW at Sudbury and other Canadian locations.
Patrick Veinot was one of nine Local 6500 members who were fired by Vale for strike activity and when he was elected following the end of the strike in July 2010, Vale refused to allow him on company property. Veinot is chairman of the Local 6500 grievance committee and his duties include meeting with shop stewards and grievants to resolve workplace differences.
Patrick Veinot
“I think the message Vale Inco has sought to communicate is cold and hard and I conclude there has been a substantial interference both in the administration of the Union and its representation of employees,” stated OLRB Chairman Bernard Fishbein.
Veinot and the eight others were charged with criminal harassment but were acquitted of those charges by a jury trial in early 2011. But they remain sacked by Vale pending a separate proceeding lodged by the USW before the OLRB to win their jobs back.
“The Board made it quite clear,” said USW District Director Wayne Fraser. “Vale’s post strike assault on the continuing determination and solidarity of our members will not be tolerated.”
Added USW Canadian National Director and ICEM Vice President Ken Neumann, “Patrick has become a living symbol of the union’s strength and like all discharged strikers, Patrick and his family have suffered at the hands of this autocratic employer hell bent on achieving its goals without regard to the interests of its employees.”