Restarting production at Vale Inco 'is about provocation': union

Peter Digby, a 21-year veteran with Vale Inco, said starting any production at Vale Inco’s operations with inexperienced staff could be dangerous.

“I think it’s an extremely dangerous precedent (to set),” he said. “They don’t have people who are qualified or capable of doing a lot of jobs. I would be extremely concerned for those people and their safety because this company doesn’t care about anyone’s safety.”

Digby’s comments were made from the Copper Cliff smelter picket line, after workers found out that Vale Inco plans to resume “partial production” in Sudbury and Port Colborne.

NDP Mining Critic and Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle is also concerned for the health and safety of non-unionized staff. “This is a big mistake by Vale,” said Gravelle in a release. “I worked at Inco for 34 years and I can tell you that a few days of training for replacement workers is not enough to keep people safe underground.”

Gravelle said, “The last thing we want is a tragedy to occur underground.”

On Aug. 25, John Pollesel, general manager of Ontario operations for Vale Inco wrote a release to employees of the company, saying the company plans to start “partial production.

“Today, a decision has been made to resume partial production,” he wrote. “Training of selected employees is beginning this week to facilitate the process and help us to continue supplying customers, generating cash flow and providing meaningful employment for staff.”

Vale Inco’s announcement is a “slap in the face” to the union, Sudbury MP Glenn Thibeault said in a release.

“This does nothing to help resolve the current dispute,” he said.
Thibeault said Vale should focus on trying to find an end to the strike.
“What everyone in this community wants is for the two sides to return to the bargaining table and work out a fair deal,” said Thibeault. “This dispute is hurting the local economy and we need to see a resolution soon.”

Pollesel said in his letter that “we have more than 1,200 staff employees in Sudbury and Port Colborne for whom we can provide value-added work, and we need to continue the change process.”

Vale Inco will utilize its 1,200 staff employees and “some very limited” outsourced staff to resume partial production, according to the company.
“Some very limited outside resources (people) will likely be required for essential work and to train employees to do that work,” said Steve Ball, a Vale Inco public affairs official.

“This is about the business, plain and simple.”

Ball did not disclose how many outside workers the company intends on hiring to bring up production capacity.

“We will be training and upgrading people on what they need to do to be able to perform the work safely and efficiently,” he said.

United Steelworkers District 6 director Wayne Fraser called the decision to resume production “disappointing” and “arrogant.”

“I think it’s incredible that these guys can sit over in their offices in Brazil and try to undermine (the union),” Fraser said.

“(This has) never happened in Sudbury in our history with this company.”

Fraser said the company should get back to the bargaining table instead of resuming production.

“I think it’s time for the City of Sudbury, and I’m sure our members will join in, to say to Vale, ‘if you want to produce product out of Sudbury, then the right way to do that is get back to the bargaining table. Hands off our mills, hands off our smelters and our refineries.’”

Fraser said he heard rumours that Vale’s partial production will consist of its copper operations and be about 10 per cent of the company’s full production.

“If they’re just going to try to produce 10 per cent for a product, the cost for that product will go up twentyfold, so this isn’t about delivering the product economically to the public, this is about provocation,” he said. “This is about the Brazilians using their arrogance here in Sudbury to our members or saying ‘haha, look what we can do.’”

Members of the United Steelworkers have asked Vale Inco for a meeting to discuss the company’s plans. The company hasn’t announced a schedule for production yet.

Members of the United Steelworkers have asked Vale for a meeting to discuss the company’s plans. Vale Inco hasn’t announced a schedule for production yet.
“We are not putting a date in the sand,” Ball said.

The intention is to work toward a level of production that is comfortable for the employees during the next weeks and months, he said. It has been reported that some production will resume at Garson and Coleman mines, with ore to be crushed at Clarabelle Mill.

Ball said Vale Inco customers are “rightly concerned about the work stoppage” and that Vale “will do what we can to deliver and supply them.”

-With files from Kelly Louiseize and Andrew Low.