Sudbury Workers Stand Up for Future Generations!
- David Starbuck -
June 12, 2021. Rally in support of striking USW
Local 6500 miners.
Twenty-four hundred and fifty production and maintenance workers at
Vale SA's Sudbury nickel-copper mining operations launched a strike on
June 1. They rejected a tentative agreement recommended by the union
bargaining committee and went on strike. Of the 87 per cent of members
casting ballots, 70 per cent voted to reject the
tentative agreement.
The workers are members of the United Steelworkers Local 6500. The
Sudbury miners have more than a century long history of fighting for
the rights of the working class, including a one-year strike in
2009-2010.
On June 13, Vale tabled a second offer that includes concessions
similar to those already rejected by the workers. The union is
unanimously recommending the rejection of the new offer.
While the tentative agreement had offered a wage increase of four
per cent over five years (0.5%, 0.5%, 1%, 1% and 1%) at a time when significant threats of price
inflation and a rise in the cost-of-living have become reality, the new
offer has a wage increase of five per cent over the five years (1 per cent
upon
ratification, followed by 1 per cent each year). The U.S. reports
yearly price inflation has soared to five per cent calculated at the
end of May.
Vale posted a net company profit of U.S.$4.8 billion in 2020 and
with that offered in the tentative agreement a one-time payment to
workers of C$2,500 and a signing bonus of $3,500 in recognition of
"continued efforts during the last year" related to COVID-19. The new
offer eliminates the $2,500 one-time payment. Bonus payments
disconnected with continuing wages soon disappear and also do not go
to new hires.
Company Proposals for the Pension Plans
For those workers covered by a defined benefit pension plan, the
monthly minimum pre-65 years old benefit for workers with 30 or more
years of employment would go up from $3,750 to $3,800 per month as of
July 1, 2021 and to $3,850 per month as of July 1, 2024. The monthly
basic pension benefit per year of employment would
increase from $61 to $62 as of July 1, 2021 and to $63 as of July 1,
2024.
Those workers covered by a defined contribution pension plan would
have the opportunity for an additional voluntary contribution
(unmatched by the company) of one to nineteen per cent of regular base
wages effective January 1, 2022. The proposal also calls for automatic
enrollment of voluntary contributions to be initiated at six per cent
of
base wages for all new hires, which it says would "attract the
corresponding company matching contributions."
 The
rejected tentative agreement also demanded several concessions from the
workers, especially for new hires. Very significant was the removal of
all retiree health benefits for new workers. In the new offer, the new hires would be eligible to participate in
a company paid Health Care Spending Account (HSA) to
which the company would contribute $1,000 per year commencing on the
date on which the employee retires from active employment. The company
would establish the terms and conditions of the HSA. In its response to
Vale's new offer, the union notes that the average benefit cost in 2020
per retiree was $4,700, almost five times what the
employer is now offering. It points out that drugs alone cost $3,500 on
average per retiree. Also, some costs are not eligible expenses under
the Health Care Spending Account, such as blood pressure monitors,
over-the-counter medications and supplements and vitamins.
The new offer also maintains the elimination of over-the-counter
drug coverage (except for life-sustaining medication) for all
employees. Other concessionary changes to health care benefits include
the addition of a mandatory generic drug rider, an increase of $4 per
prescription to the employee deductible, and a cap of $10 per
prescription
placed on the employer-paid dispensing fee.
Nick Larochelle, president of USW Local 6500, said that the nature
of hard rock mining exposes workers to toxic and hazardous substances,
leaving many workers with serious medical conditions in retirement.
"Eliminating post-retirement health benefits ... from workers who are
exposed to toxic and hazardous substances throughout their
careers and who often develop serious illnesses and medical conditions
in retirement" is not justified, he said. "The real solution is for
Vale to do the right thing and maintain these vital benefits for
everyone. It shouldn't be a race to the bottom."
Concessions Are Not Solutions!
Concessions lead to demands by the employers for more concessions
from the workers. The Sudbury Vale workers have already been forced to
accept a defined contribution pension plan for new hires after the
Canadian state, through a court injunction in 2009, allowed Vale to
bring in scabs to operate the plants when workers first rejected this
demand to split their ranks. Now Vale is demanding more concessions.
The Sudbury mine, mill, smelter and refinery workers employed by
Vale SA are entirely justified in rejecting the concessionary tentative
agreement and fighting for wages and working conditions acceptable to
themselves. The Sudbury workers are standing up for future generations
of Sudbury workers. Many of the workers come from
multi-generational mining families. Their fathers and grandfathers
worked in the mines and surface plants. They have lived through the
struggles of the past and see the need to make their own stand for
future generations, for their own sons and daughters. They are
especially justified in opposing two-tier contracts whereby new hires
are employed
under inferior conditions to those of existing workers.
Sudbury mine workers know that the mines containing the valuable nickel and other
ores located thousands of feet underground cannot be moved out of the
country. Their jobs, therefore, cannot be moved elsewhere as the global
owners of monopolies so callously threaten and do in the manufacturing
sector. If the Vale owners hope to extract the valuable
ore, they must reach an accommodation acceptable to the Sudbury Vale
workers.
No to Concessions!
Stand Up for Future Generations of Workers!
This article was published in
June 14, 2021 - No. 56
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/WF2021/Articles/WO08562.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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