Unionized employees have voted 67% in favour of accepting the terms of a new three-year agreement at Noranda‘s (NOR-T) CCR copper refinery in Montreal, Que.
The previous contract expired May 30.
About 540 employees at the operation belong to locals 6887 and 8992 of the United Steelworkers of America.
The new agreement, which is retroactive to May 31, includes provisions for an early retirement program and a 75-per-hour wage increase in each year of the agreement. It also includes annual improvements to the benefits program and increases to the pension plan.
The CCR refinery is one of the largest copper and precious metal refineries in the world. Last year, it produced 313,000 tonnes copper cathode, about 1.1 million oz. gold and 44 million oz. silver. It refines copper anodes from Noranda’s Horne and Gaspe custom copper smelters and processes other unrefined copper and precious metals.
The refinery employs 720 people.
In the latter half of 2000, Noranda completed a $124-million upgrading at CCR. This was designed to increase productivity, improve the plant environment and reduce unit costs.
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