Vale's top executive will appear before council

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Vale Inco president and CEO Tito Martins has accepted an invitation by Mayor John Rodriguez to appear before city council. File photo.

Vale Inco president and CEO Tito Martins has accepted an invitation by Mayor John Rodriguez to appear before city council. File photo.

Jul 10, 2009- 12:02 PM

By: Ed Veilleux - Sudbury Northern Life Staff

Vale Inco president and CEO Tito Martins has accepted an invitation by Mayor John Rodriguez to appear before city council.

Martins will make a presentation to council “when the timing is right,” said Rodriguez July 8 after a city council meeting.

The mayor met with Martins in Toronto on July 6 to better understand Vale Inco's position on the future of its Sudbury operations. The mayor then issued Martins an invite to visit.

“I was interested in knowing (about) the restructuring of Vale Inco, how that would impact our community, the city of Greater Sudbury, in terms of the operations here in terms of employment levels,” Rodriguez said.

“I invited him to come before council to outline what the restructuring impacts would be on our community and employment levels, as he could see it, going down the road.”

He very quickly said, “Yes,” according to the mayor.

“The only question now is the timing, as to when he comes,” Rodriguez said.

“We agreed that this is not the time for him to come to appear before council when his company and his employees are in dispute over negotiations. He may want to wait until that is settled.”

Martins told the mayor Vale is thinking about improving the company's efficiency.

“That's the way the company operates in another countries, across the world and in other operations.

“This is the culture they want to bring to nickel operations.”

Vale employs more people in the community than when they bought the company, Rodriguez said. However, the mayor wants to know what employment levels are going to be like down the road.

“I'm the mayor of this city and I'm responsible for projecting concern about the levels of employment and to make sure that no operations are being taken out of this area and done anywhere else.”

Martins told the mayor that Sudbury is important to Vale, and that's “why they spent $18.5 billion in buying (Inco).”

The mayor also noted that when nickel was up near $20 per pound, it allowed Vale to pay off the acquisition of Inco “very handily.”

“He's telling me he's here for the long haul,” Rodriguez said.

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15 Comments

  • Man About Town_513 7/16/2009 5:06:34 AM - Report Abuse

    When the repo man comes a calling this winter, your blind unionism won't be much comfort Anonymous User.
    Once reality sinks in, and 6500's rank and file begin to see this last offer wasn't as bad as others (the CAW for example), they'll start to crumble. Add to that the stream of non-union folks crossing the line to take their jobs, and the idea of solidarity versus a solid pay-cheque will make many report to work.
    See you in the bargain ads....

  • Bill_1 7/12/2009 11:06:30 AM - Report Abuse

    I wonder if this council meeting will be open to the public???? Where are these supposed Brazilian workers living if they are in Sudbury?? I think any hotel / motel would seriously think of the ramifications if they were housing these workers when Sudburians are out of jobs. Went though the strike of 58 and wouldn''t like to see it repeated. Go to the Niagara region and see the bus loads of migrant workers at the grocery stores on Fri/Sat. Why when we have so much unemployment?? They will work under those conditions and pay while Canadians won''t.

  • Anonymous User 7/11/2009 8:27:23 PM - Report Abuse

    I wonder how much Vale is spending to get bloggers to post this bs ...should save some money and offer us a fair contract See you on the picket line..

  • Man About Town_513 7/11/2009 4:27:26 PM - Report Abuse

    Get your facts straight luke. Martins didn''t ask to appear before counsel, the mayor asked him. He politely accepted. The myopic lemmings continue to fall lockstep into the union propaganda. Look at the facts with the Vale contract offer: 1- Not one layoff is mentioned 2- COLA (Cost of living allowance) is still in tact giving workers automatic wage increases with inflation. 3- No current workers will have their pension altered. (Yet millions of workers in Canada have similar pay-your-own-way pensions) 4- No wage concessions. (Yet other large unions have seen upwards of 25 - 40 percent wage cuts) 5- Plant mobility is made into an issue. Yet you still keep your $ 90 k/ year jobs! 6- The Nickel Bonus is being cut back.( It''s a B-O-N-U-S people. Hardly worth striking for) Those are the facts. Yet stubborn unionists are willing to put their jobs on the line. Some with less than 5 years seniority. The same people that chose the chancy mining industry as a career. (Blame yourself for that work move). Instead of getting angry at the company president, how about putting your anger where it belongs. With the union for taking the rank and file down a the dead end path of greed. Right to self destruction.

  • Anonymous User 7/11/2009 12:52:49 PM - Report Abuse

    If Tito was so concerned, then he should have come to Sudbury before negotiations broke down. This is just Vale blowing more smoke up politicians'' you- know- whats.

  • jtissy 7/11/2009 8:38:55 AM - Report Abuse

    Harry dont be so naive. The number was approx 1500. I know people testing bloodwork for immigration status, neighbours of some, and builders that install amenities for such families. They''re already here pal - and if you think they aint going to work, you''re gonna be in for a surprise.

  • Anonymous User 7/11/2009 12:38:03 AM - Report Abuse

    and just WHERE are these thousands of Brezilians hiding?

  • Lilly 7/11/2009 12:12:42 AM - Report Abuse

    Yeh ok...I hope the mayor is not as naive as alot of people are in regards to what Vale says and what Vale does...I don''t trust this at all. I''m not prejudice but I''m starting to get leary of the government letting in immigrants/foreigners and oooops...there go our jobs...Our country, our resources, our jobs..Does the government care anymore?? Again, I support these men who just may be on strike and I wish them luck as they fight for their rights and our rights to maintain what we have here in Sudbury

  • Terry_1 7/10/2009 11:03:21 PM - Report Abuse

    Lets put the blame where it belongs. The federal government did away with the laws forbiding majority ownership by a foriegn country. Maybe Inco would still have all of the employees it had when they were bought. We should be getting money from the government for our resoueces the way Alberta does. They want them let them pay us for them.

  • Mike_1786 7/10/2009 9:34:20 PM - Report Abuse

    Rodriguez should ask him if people from sudbury are second class citizens to people from tompson manitoba, As when it came to there contract everything went through smoothly.But of course tito w''ont come to sudbury during this time of deliberation for the new contract as he choose''s to blow us off like the contract he proposed us.And he''ll come around when everything is peachy.

  • Pam_1 7/10/2009 5:07:37 PM - Report Abuse

    I think there are probably a small number of Brazilian''s here other than that I do not expect or believe a massive influx of Brazilians will occur. Come on people, they need to get work Visa''s. Last joker told me there were thousands in Sudbury...funny thing where are they? Hiding in the trees? lmao.

  • fresh_1 7/10/2009 4:35:16 PM - Report Abuse

    I just hope that our Province of Ontario laws and the Canadian government laws forbid the Brazilians from working in our country for any length of time! That would definitely be a huge slap in the face to the Vale Canadian workers!!!

  • Kev N_1 7/10/2009 4:20:33 PM - Report Abuse

    Great. Let''s hope Rodriguez lets Martins know that Sudburians will not stand for Vale stealing our non-renewable natural resource profits straight out of our people''s pockets and our local economy for his foreign interests and for the sake of making his company "cash-flow positive". Let''s hope he informs him that Sudburians are not that stupid (aside from Man About Town) and that we recognize his economic buzz words as propaganda and poppycock! Let''s hope he tells him that Sudbury and its workers will take care of Vale''s interests as long as Vale takes care of ours! Let''s hope he tells him that our mines build this city and and we plan to keep it that way.

  • Anonymous User 7/10/2009 4:18:42 PM - Report Abuse

    Everyone ... stop with this nonsense of thousands of Brazilian workers hiding in Sudbury. It''s not true. Use some common sense for once.

  • jtissy 7/10/2009 12:42:59 PM - Report Abuse

    I''m happy to hear that Vale was able to pay off their aquisition ''so handily'' due to RECORD profits in the billions during that time. Why not continue to make more as you pay and offer less. Of course Sudbury is very important to Vale, as it contains precious ore that is worth money. If it were truely important, jobs and employment would come first - not layoffs and cutbacks. Yeah he agreed to come before council but once this issue is settled?? When will that be? 6months, a year, that would be convenient. Instead, let''s ask him about the number of Brazilian workers already in Sudbury ready to take management & labour positions away from Sudburians/Canadians. Maybe then we could see how this will impact our community.
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