Steelworkers Local 6500 president John Fera admits that the five-year contract the union now has with Vale could be better, but after nearly a year on the picket lines, his members decided it was time to go back to work.

“I’m glad our people are going back to work,” Fera told reporters after the union’s head of elections, Lyle Young, announced July 8 that 75.5 per cent of his membership had voted in favour of the deal with Vale.

“As we said when we talked to our members, we had hoped to bring back a better contract, but after 12 months, our members decided that this contract was going to be OK going forward.

“We give (our members) so much credit for being able to come here after 12 months, to take a look at what was offered and to decide we were going to move forward with our lives and get our families going again.”

After nearly a year on the picket lines, Steelworkers Local 6500 voted 75.5 per cent in favour of the deal with Vale. Photo by Marg Seregelyi

Steelworkers Local 6200 members in Port Colborne, Ont., who bargain along with Local 6500, also voted 74 per cent in favour of the deal.

On July 13, the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the strike, the union will hold a “Day of Solidarity” at its Brady Street hall to celebrate the end of the labour dispute.

The event, which will take place between 2 and 11 p.m., will feature family activities, music and a free hot meal at 6 p.m.

Parking and shuttle service will be available from noon until midnight at the city parking lot behind Brewers Retail on Lorne Street and, after 4:30 p.m., at the old train station on Elgin Street. Non-perishable food donations for the Sudbury Food Bank are being collected at the event.

“It’s a feel-good party that people are going back to work and their lives are going to get back to normal again,” Fera said.

Alex Patterson was among about two dozen strikers and union executives who showed up at the T.M. Davies Arena in Lively to hear the results of the contract ratification vote.

He said he isn’t 100 per cent happy with the contract, but he’s happy to be going back to work.

“That has nothing to do with what our bargaining committee has achieved,” Patterson, who works at Clarabelle Mill, said. “It has to do with the company coming here and not being held to the same standards as other companies here in Canada.”

Among the more contentious aspects of the contract are a move from the defined benefit pension plan to a defined contribution pension plan for new hires; a $3.75 a pound nickel price trigger for the nickel bonus, which is up from the previous $2.50 a pound trigger; and a nickel bonus cap of 25 per cent of a worker’s pay.

Patterson said he isn’t sure why Vale needed to adjust the nickel bonus, because it rises when times are good and falls when times are bad.

“It just brings more money to Brazil rather than giving it to the hands of the working people,” he said.

There is also a 90 cent wage increase over five years, and retirement incentives of $30,000 for those with 30 or more years of service, and $15,000 for those with 27 to 29 years of service.

The return to work bonus is $2,000 for all returning and retiring employees, $1,000 if production is at 70 per cent for 42 days within six months of ratification, and $1,000 if production is at 95 per cent for 42 days within six months of ratification.

There are 113 excess positions within the company, but it is hoped that this will be reduced to zero through retirements.
Northern Life acquired a copy of an 18-page return-to-work agreement signed July 5 between Vale and Steelworkers Local 6500.

According to the document, Vale has agreed to drop its lawsuits against the union, and the union has agreed to withdraw its Ontario Labour Relations Board complaint against the company.

The workers are scheduled to return to work within six weeks, according to the return-to-work agreement. Some could be going back to work as soon as this week, Fera said.

Strike pay will continue to be paid until the strikers return to work.

According to information posted on the website www.valeinconegotiations.com, employees who do not contact the company before July 22 “may deem to have voluntarily resigned.”

Employees who have changed addresses since July 13, 2009 are asked to phone the company at 682-6830 immediately to confirm their intention to return to work and to receive further information about return-to-work meetings.

The issue of the nine workers fired by Vale during the labour dispute for alleged actions on the picket lines is being dealt with by the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

The Steelworkers want the fired workers to be dealt with in arbitration, and Vale does not, according to the union. 

In a press release put out July 12, the Steelworkers said that on July 9, the labour board directed both parties to attend a July 13 hearing to deal with the issue in an expedited manner.

“The board has determined that Vale’s refusal to consider any form of arbitration can be considered on the basis of uncontroverted facts which permit the matter to be argued on the law very quickly,” Brian Shell, lawyer for the United Steelworkers, said in a press release.

Vale’s general manager of Ontario operations, John Pollesel, said in a press release put out July 8, that the company is "very pleased that our production and maintenance employees have ratified these new collective agreements, and we look forward to their return to work and a resumption of normal operations.

“It’s been a long, hard year for everyone involved, and it’s now time to come together and focus on building the strong and sustainable operations that Sudbury and Port Colborne require.”