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22 September, 2008
A month after Brazilian and Canadian miners met in the province of Manitoba to develop further bonds of solidarity, 1,300 members of the United Steelworkers (USW) in Thompson, Canada, ratified their first labour agreement with Vale, the Brazilian mining giant which bought the nickel-mining and smelting operations of Inco in northern Manitoba two years ago.
The USW announced on 16 September that union members of Local 6166 ratified the new three-year labour agreement with a 65.5% vote in favour.
The labour agreement contains a first-year three percent wage increase, effective 15 September 2008, followed by wage increases of 2.5% in 2009 and 2% in 2010. The new contract also contains cost-of-living adjustments, plus a C$5,000 ratification bonus for each worker. The union said the average increase for workers over the three-year period totals 13.7%
The new collective agreement includes a process to limit the amount of sub-contract work Vale can do, and the union won improvements to pensions, insurance, medical emergency benefits, and maternity leave. Local branch president Les Ellsworth called the negotiations “a good first step in our relationship with” Companhia do Rio Doce, or Vale, which purchased Canadian-based Inco in 2006.
“We hope that the way these negotiations have been conducted will help set the stage for bargaining at Vale-Inco’s Ontario operations,” said Ellsworth, referring to contracts coming due next year for 4,000 USW miners and mill workers at Vale’s copper and nickel facilities in Sudbury, Ontario.
On 12-14 August, leaders of five Brazilian unions, including Sindicato dos Ferroviviarios do Maranhoa-MA (CNTT) and Sindimina-RJ (CNTSM), visited Thompson along with USW members from the eastern regions of Canada – also employed by Vale-Inco – in ongoing efforts to build solidarity.