The union, which represents about 3,400 workers in Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ont., unanimously recommended that its members ratify the deal. A vote was scheduled for late August.
The new contract is said to contain increased pension benefits and wages.
Union members voted to strike in early June, when the last collective agreement ended. The company is losing about $20 million, or 8,000 tonnes of metal production, a month, and at a time when the nickel price is at a 3-year high of US$4.39 per lb.
The deal ends a bitter dispute. The union asserted Inco employees have a cancer rate 10 times higher than that of the population of Ontario. However, Inco spokesman Cory McPhee says the figure was based on outdated studies and that the cancer rates are in fact similar.
Inco wanted to establish an independent body to monitor new drugs entering the market that would be covered under its benefits plan. Benefits increased by 65% over the past six years, says McPhee, and prescription drug costs have risen 38% over the past three years.
Meanwhile, Inco has warned there will be further job losses by year-end, though mostly through attrition, not layoffs.
During the first week of the strike, the company declared force majeure on some of its nickel contracts. The Sudbury operations produce about 9% of the world’s nickel.
The strike halted production for twice as long as the last major work stoppage at Sudbury, in 1997.
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