Steelworkers Local 6500 president John Fera will be allowing his members to vote on a revised contract proposal from Vale Inco, which he feels “really didn't do our membership justice,” at two meetings March 11.

The five-year contract proposal, which has been rejected by the union's bargaining committee, is the latest offer made by Vale Inco. The offer came after eight days of mediated talks between the two parties broke off March 7. No new talks have been scheduled.

As of March 13, Local 6500 members will have been on strike for eight months. Before the recent mediation, there had been no negotiations since the strike started.

Fera said he will tell his members about the contract proposal before they vote at the March 11 meetings, which are taking place at 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the Caruso Club.

He would not speak about the details of the proposal before the meeting, although Vale Inco has posted it on its website, www.valeinconegotiations.com.

Steelworkers Local 6200 members in Port Colborne, who bargain along with the Sudbury workers, will also be voting on the proposal March 12.

“There are some new items in the proposal," Fera said. "We believe in being up front with our membership. We always have. We want them to see what was in the package. Then they will decide what they want to do. I will be telling them that I'm not recommending this contract.”

He said Vale Inco has “wasted” an opportunity to end the strike. When it became apparent that there were still large issues to resolve, the union recommended that all outstanding issues be referred to a binding arbitration panel — a settlement technique in which a third party reviews the case and imposes a decision that is legally binding for both sides.

Vale Inco has rejected that idea, stating that it is not interested in having a third party make business decisions which will affect the future viability of the business.

“It's been a really tough eight months, and it's not going to get any better. There are issues here that are very, very important to our membership, going forward, and have to be settled,” Fera said.

Most members of the Facebook group Strikeforce 6500 are reacting negatively to the contract proposal, and say they will vote against it.

“Unreal! How much more insulting can it get?” one poster, named Curtis Hannon, said.

“Eight months lost, min. $40,000 in wages gone, min. $25,000 in savings gone, min. $15,000 backlog of payments etc., and they have the nerve to offer this crap! It would take me 10 yrs. + to get back to where I was before the strike on a contract like this. So insulted right now. Seriously.”

Another poster, named Martin Kotyluk, simply posted "vote no" numerous times in his comment.

Line Legault Robichaud said “after reading the contract on the Vale website I wonder if this is more bad faith bargaining. The whole world gets to see the contract proposal before the union has the chance to present it to the members. Read it carefully. It is just reworded differently than the last one. Concessions are still there. One day longer, one day stronger!”

Vale Inco spokesperson Steve Ball said he would not comment on whether or not the company was hopeful the Steelworkers would vote in favour of the contract proposal.

“The vote has nothing to do with us. We're not going to comment on that.”

Ball said company officials are “very disappointed that these talks haven't been able to hammer out a deal,” despite the fact that Vale Inco was “very flexible” in negotiations.

The company's contract proposal contains several changes from the proposal offered before the union went on strike last year.

First of all, the contract proposed last year was for three years, and this one is for five years. Ball would not give a reason for this change, saying it was a product of mediated talks, “the process details of which are not being discussed publicly.”

One of the major issues in the strike is the company's proposal to move new hires to a defined contribution pension plan, as opposed to a defined benefit pension plan.

The proposal retains the pension change for new hires, but includes improvements to the defined benefit pension plan for current employees.

As well, the nickel bonus will kick in when the nickel price reaches $3.50 a pound, as opposed to the previous proposal, which would have seen the nickel bonus kick in when the nickel price reached $5 a pound.

The new proposal also includes wage increases, whereas the previous proposal would have continued the same wages for the duration of the contract.

Existing wage rates would be continued for the first year of the contract. Rates would then go up 10 cents an hour the second year, 15 cents the third year, 25 cents the fourth year, and 30 cents the fifth year.

The proposal also includes a $3,000 “return to production bonus.”

Employees would be given $1,000 three months after ratification, $1,000 six months after ratification and $1,000 nine months after ratification, given that certain production targets are met, and the worker is still employed by Vale Inco during those time periods.

"Our goal, upon reaching a deal, is to return our operations to full production in an expedient manner, and we believe that this is a means to achieve that goal,” Ball told Northern Life.

“This is also consistent with what is being implemented across our company — to pay bonuses based on performance and measurable targets being met.”

Ball said a process for the striking employees to return to work was also part of the negotiations.

“After a strike of this length, there would have to be a negotiated process for returning people to work. If the strike was only a week, everybody might be able to come back on the same day and the same shift that they were working,” he said.

“For example, we wouldn't be able to fire up the nickel refinery on day one because of work that would have to be done to make sure it's ready. Then we've got to look at the feed from the smelter and the mines. We've got one furnace running. We'd have to get the second running.”

Laurentian University commerce professor Jean-Charles Cachon said he thinks union members will vote against Vale Inco's contract proposal and support the decision of their negotiating team.

“Definitely. I think they have no choice. There is no question. People will back off in the first weeks or months, but after a long strike like this, people will back their union,” he said.

Cachon said that, at this point, the strike is hurting the coffers of the federal and provincial governments because of lost taxes.

He said he is surprised that politicians have not put more pressure on both sides to end the strike.

Cachon said he thinks Vale may be thinking of selling its Canadian operations. He said they could be sold at a “bargain price” because of the strikes.