Union says no to Falco

The 5-week strike at Falconbridge’s Sudbury operations is showing no signs of ending.

The union was presented with an amended offer on the Labour Day weekend, but on Sept. 5, the union’s leaders unanimously rejected it — without taking it to the 1,260 members.

The offer included better financial terms and addressed seniority issues, the transfer of employees between business units, and improved grievance procedures.

“We’re very disappointed they didn’t take it to the union membership,” says Craig Crosby, a spokesman for Falconbridge.

However, union spokesman Hemi Mitic says the amended offer lacked significant changes. “We voted on the first offer, and the latest offer is not that different,” he says.

The major stumbling block appears to be disagreement over contracting-out provisions and the replacement of retired workers.

“In probably another five years there will be three to four hundred employees retiring,” says Crosby. “When that happens, a lot of those positions will not even be replaced. We’re not going to fill them with contract employees; they won’t be filled at all. It’s just a way of [sustaining] our long-term viability at our Sudbury operations.”

The amended offer was presented following several picket-line incidents that caused Falco to leave the bargaining table. Crosby says that as many eight vehicles, including a bus carrying staff from headquarters, were held up by strikers, some for as long as 50 minutes.

Mitic says the strike, which began in early August, is likely to last at least another five weeks.

Falconbridge is the world’s third-largest nickel company, producing 35,000 tonnes annually. The firm’s Sudbury operations consist of four mines, a mill and a smelter.

The company restarted its smelter in mid-August at 50% capacity using stockpiled ore from the Raglan mine in northern Quebec. Crosby says the company can meet its nickel production obligations until the end of October. If a settlement is not reached by then, it will have no choice but to declare force majeure.

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