The way Alex Patterson sees it, Vale was unable to “break the union” during the nearly year-long labour dispute with Steelworkers Local 6500, so now the company is trying to exclude the union from its Sudbury plants instead.
Patterson, who has worked as an operator at Clarabelle Mill since 1997, said from what he heard at the orientation sessions, it seems that workers are being discouraged from bringing issues to their union stewards.
Workers are being told they should bring any issues to their supervisors, he said.
In the past, the company and the union worked together to resolve many different workplace problems, he said.
“It seems like (Vale) wants to have a regimented formula going forward, where they’ve kind of pushed aside the union,” Patterson said. He was one of several Vale workers Northern Life spoke to at the union’s Pine Street office July 29.
“That’s what I’ve seen at the sessions I’ve been at. They’re saying ‘If you have an issue, go to your immediate supervisor.’ There’s no involving the (union) steward. If the griever wants a steward, he’s going to have to make sure he asks for that and the collective agreement provides for that.”
When contacted by Northern Life about the issue, Vale spokesperson Steve Ball said in an e-mail that “what returning employees are being reminded of is that if there are any workplace concerns, their first point of contact is always with their immediate supervisor.
“The (union) has a role to play. We understand that. Though, in the context given, it is our obligation to see if we can resolve the issue first.”
It seems like (Vale) wants to have a regimented formula going forward, where they’ve kind of pushed aside the union.
JAlex Patterson,
operator at Clarabelle Mill
Patterson said that, from what he’s heard about the eight-and-a-half month long labour dispute between Local 6500 and Inco Ltd. in 1978-79, it took some time to rebuild the relationship between the two parties.
He said he expects that to be the case after this strike as well. However, Vale isn’t helping things with its attitude towards the workers, Patterson said.
“It’s a lot of negativity, a lot of scare tactics, a lot of ‘fall into line,’ and ‘this is the way we expect you to behave, or these are the consequences,’” he said.
“Some of our people have lost everything as a result of somebody going in and doing their work. You can’t expect that to just stop, day one, without hard feelings.”
One young worker, who did not want to be named, said he’d only worked 11 months with Vale before the strike, and narrowly missed being laid off by the company.
Union leaders said they were told by Vale during negotiations that 113 positions would be eliminated, although the company maintains that was never a final number.
The union had hoped to offset any layoffs through members who had quit or who have taken retirement packages.
However, despite the 150 workers who have quit or taken retirement packages, Vale confirmed last week that 18 workers have been laid off.
“How petty is that?” the young worker asked. “Eighteen guys — they couldn’t find work for those guys?
Ridiculous. You can see the lies the company told us in bargaining. You can really see what our bargaining committee had to deal with.”
The worker, who will resume work at Copper Cliff North Mine Aug. 11, said he was also told to go to his supervisor with issues instead of to the union.
“They don’t want to get the union involved in anything, if they can help it,” he said. “The union-busting continues, even when we’re inside the plant. I would encourage guys to file as many grievances as possible.”
He said he thinks that in time, Vale is going to realize it has to work with the union and “that some of these policies they’re trying to implement with the workers are not going to work.”
One middle-aged worker, who did not want his name or even the specific Vale plant he works in revealed, gave his own description of the company’s orientation sessions.
“We were encouraged to ask questions and stuff like that, but if you asked a question they didn’t like, they hauled you aside and threatened to kick you out,” he said.
“I’m serious. There’s more of ‘we did so well without you, but don’t take offence to it. We have to make these changes, because we’re a company that’s not making money.’ Nobody believes that kind of stuff.”
He said there was also some mention about the company’s harassment policies regarding union members who crossed the picket lines during the strike.
In the return-to-work agreement signed by the union and the company following the end of the labour dispute, both parties agreed that nobody would be intimidated or threatened because of what had happened during the strike.
“Is there going to be some hard feelings? Yeah,” he said.
“Are people going to do their jobs? Of course.”
