After nearly a year, strikers have returned to work at
Almost 54% of the 550 unionized production and maintenance workers voted in favour of a 3-year deal.
The new agreement, which extends to March 1, 2006, includes an average wage increase of nearly 10% over the three years, plus improvements to the benefits and pension programs, and an early-retirement plan.
Noranda says the deal allows for productivity gains and increased flexibility in the smelter’s daily operations.
Employees are expected to resume work in a few weeks.
The dispute at Horne began in mid-June 2002, when workers walked off the job after their union, Le syndicat des travailleurs de la mine Noranda, and management failed to agree on terms of a new contract. Contentious issues included job security, sub-contracting and health-and-safety guarantees. The old contract expired in February 2002.
Noranda figures the strike cost it around $25 million, before taxes, in 2002, plus $10 million in the first quarter this year.
Strikers voted 73% against a previous Noranda offer that included a wage increase of 9.6% and a pension increase of 12.5% over three years.
In 2002, Horne produced 147,020 tonnes of copper anodes, down from 188,000 tonnes in the previous year.
Meanwhile, 725 unionized workers at Noranda’s Brunswick zinc-lead mine near Bathurst, N.B., recently agreed to a contract including an average wage increase of 9.6% over its 3-year term. That deal also includes improvements to the benefits and pension programs.
In 2002, the mine produced more than 277,000 tonnes of contained zinc in concentrate.
The Brunswick mine employs around 950 people.
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