Cleveland Cliffs settles contracts

Iron miner Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF-N) says workers at four operations it manages have ratified 4-year labour agreements that call for a 9% wage increase over the course of the deals. The contracts expire Sept. 1, 2008.

The Cleveland-based company will also put more than US$220 million into pension plans and retiree health-care packages during the term of the contracts.

For their part, workers and future retirees will share a higher percentage of health insurance costs, and the company’s share of premiums for future retirees will be capped at 2008 levels.

The company said the union also agreed to certain workforce flexibility and that future staff cuts would be reached through attrition.

The labour agreements cover workers represented by the United Steelworkers of America at the Empire and Tilden iron mines in Michigan, and the Hibbing Taconite and United Taconite mines in Minnesota. Cleveland-Cliffs holds substantial stakes in all four mines.