Vale Breaks Off Contract Talks with
Steelworkers at Voisey's Bay in Labrador
Company Refuses to Address Health, Safety and Other Concerns
Workers in Voisey's Bay during their 2009-2010 strike against Vale and
its imposition of "final
offers" and refusal to bargain at that time.
The United Steelworkers union (USW) reports that the
Brazilian mining corporation Vale has broken off contract talks with
USW Local 9508. The
local represents 250 production and maintenance workers at Vale's
Voisey's Bay mining operations in Labrador. The workers have been
extracting minerals in an open-pit mine and operating a
concentrator since 2005.
Workers at the facility produce two types of
concentrate: a
nickel-cobalt-copper concentrate and a copper concentrate. The nickel
concentrate workers produce at Voisey's Bay is currently transported
and processed by another collective of workers at Vale's
hydro-metallurgical processing facility in Long Harbour, Newfoundland.
Voisey's Bay is a fly-in/fly-out operation. It includes
Impacts and
Benefit Agreements (IBAs) with the Nunatsiavut Government representing
the Inuit of Labrador, and with the Sheshatshiu First Nation and the
Mushuau First Nation representing the Innu, on whose land the ore and
mine/mill are located. The IBAs are said to establish specific
employment commitments for the Innu and the Inuit, and relations with
Indigenous businesses so that they provide the operation with goods and
services.
The workers' collective agreement expired on March 31
and Vale broke
off contract talks on May 15. Steelworkers report that Vale ended the
talks despite the appointment of a provincial conciliation officer to
assist in the negotiations. The officer will now submit a report to the
province's Labour Minister as part of a process that will see the
parties in a legal strike/lockout position within the next few weeks.
"We started bargaining in February and we still haven't
been able to
get the company to negotiate seriously on any of the key issues," said
USW Staff Representative Boyd Bussey.
According to the Steelworkers, Vale has been unwilling
to address
important issues, such as health and safety concerns that have become
even more crucial as the company develops underground mining operations
at Voisey's Bay. In 2018, Vale announced it was moving ahead with the
construction of an underground mine at the site, extending
expected operations by at least 15 years, until 2035. First ore from
the underground section is due in 2021.
Steelworkers point out that an underground mine carries
additional
and different hazards than surface mining, including incidents such as
explosions, increased risks from exposure, environmental emergencies
and other issues of importance to those who do the work. The fact that
Vale has broken off contract talks and refuses to discuss and
address health and safety concerns with the workers is unacceptable and
does not bode well.
 Workers' Forum
will follow the situation closely and report on developments, as they
indicate a possible pattern of dictate and reckless moves similar to
those at play in the lockouts at the ABI smelter owned by the Alcoa/Rio
Tinto cartel in Bécancour, Quebec and the Brunswick smelter in
Belledune, New Brunswick owned by
Glencore.
Vale's refusal to negotiate also brings back memories of
the
18-month strike at Voisey's Bay operations that ended in January 2011,
during which Vale shamelessly used scores of strike-breaking
mercenaries to impose anti-worker concessions on issues such as
pensions and wages.
That strike was part of the strike action of Vale Inco
workers in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, where the company used
similar provocative strike-breaking tactics to extort anti-worker
concessions. The result is that the company seizes an even greater
amount of the social wealth workers produce leaving less in the local
and regional communities and economies. Meanwhile, its thirst for more
is insatiable.
Workers do not want a repeat scenario and are demanding
genuine
negotiations where they have a decisive say in determining their
working conditions, as it is they who do the work in difficult
conditions.
This article was published in
Number 19 - May 23, 2019
Article Link:
Vale Breaks Off Contract Talks with
Steelworkers at Voisey's Bay in Labrador: Company Refuses to Address Health, Safety and Other Concerns
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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