UPDATE: TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 – 6:00 AM: Vale deal would have cut health care benefits
Members of Steelworkers Local 6500 representing about 2,450 employees at Vale’s Sudbury operations hit the picket lines yesterday.
According to the union website, 87 % of the membership voted with 70% rejecting the deal because of concerns with benefits.
Union members would have received wage increases, a one-time payment of $2,500 for past service and another $3,500 one-time signing bonus.
But the union says the agreement would eliminate over-the-counter drug coverage, excluding life-sustaining drugs and close retiree benefits eligibility for all insurances, health and hospital services for employees hired on or after June 1st, 2021.
Vale issued a statement stating the company will continue talking with the union in the hopes that both sides can find a way to reach a ratified agreement in the near future.
The company has suspended all operations in Sudbury.
ORIGINAL STORY: Miners have gone on strike in Sudbury.
United Steelworkers Local 6500 members in Sudbury hit the picket lines this morning after rejecting Vale’s five-year collective bargaining offer yesterday.
The last time the workers were on strike was the year-long labour dispute that lasted from July 13, 2009, to July 8, 2010, and it was the longest strike in Canadian history.
The tentative deal which was rejected by the Local 6500 membership had been endorsed by the union’s bargaining committee, says the company in a press release
However, the union says 70 percent of members rejected the tentative deal, with an 87 percent voter turnout.
The union represents about 2,450 production and maintenance employees at Vale’s Sudbury operations.
Vale says as a result of the strike contingency plans have been implemented to preserve the integrity and safety of the plants and mines.