January 7, 2011 - Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

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Protecting the Labour Rights of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in a Globalized World This was also outlined in the journal article for the November 2010 edition Labour/ Le Travail by Dr. John Peters. (Down in the Vale: Corporate Globalization, Unions on the Defensive, and the USW Local 6500 Strike in Sudbury, 2009–2010) The York University Political Scientist explains that “Vale had Hicks Morley use every legal option to tie up union resources in the courts and at the labour board. It fined nine workers and sued them for damages ranging from $75,000 to $120,000 because of alleged incidents on picket lines. Twice it levied law suits of $25 million against the union for not following picket line protocol…In these and other ways, the company and its legal counsel carried out a systematic campaign to discredit and intimidate striking workers.” Peters notes that while long strikes were well-known to the miners of Sudbury – as they are to the miners of Newfoundland and Labrador including a lengthy strike by workers at IOC in the 1980s over health and safety – “right from the beginning of the 2009 strike, observers agreed the conflict was unique. Most notably, Vale continued to run and upgrade its operations both during the shutdown prior to the strike and over the subsequent 12 months.” Estimates are that Vale was able to reach 30% operational capacity during the Sudbury strike. In Newfoundland and Labrador, we expect at least that level of operational capacity was obtained during the strike by Local 9508 when you consider the more favourable conditions a remote mining site like Voisey’s Bay provided the company and as highlighted by the Voisey’s Bay production numbers reported above. (Example: 35,000 tonnes of nickel, copper and cobalt in the first nine months of 2010 and production value of over $700 million for the entire year). Vale also engaged in similar tactics of using contract staff to do maintenance, upgrading work and replacement workers to do the jobs of striking employees. Indeed, on numerous occasions, Vale representatives were quoted in local media about the company’s intention to “ramp up” production. In fact just hours before heading back to the bargaining table in July 2010, the company said the following in an interview with Dow Jones Newswire (see appendix 6): Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour Page 37
Protecting the Labour Rights of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in a Globalized World Negotiations to end a year-long strike at Brazilian mining company Vale SA's ( VALE | PowerRating) Voisey's Bay operation in eastern Canada will resume Monday, although the miner is currently working on plans to ramp back up to full production regardless of a deal being signed, it said Friday. The facility is operating at 35% capacity after union members took strike action 12 months ago alongside workers at Vale's Sudbury operation in Ontario, who last week ratified new five-year collective bargaining agreements with Vale and will be returning to work over the coming month. Vale spokesman Cory McPhee told Dow Jones Newswires that while talks are scheduled to resume Monday, the company has a plan to "ramp up production regardless of a settlement.” "That is not meant to be threatening," he said. "It is just what the business demands." 13 These are not the statements of an employer interested in engaging in real collective bargaining or in reaching an agreement with its employees. These kind of inflammatory remarks only add to an already volatile and damaged labour-management relationship. Also contributing to the anger and discontent of the workers was the well-known fact that scabs/replacements in the mining site were being used to break their strike and being paid handsomely and substantially more than the striking employees had been or would be under the proposals from the company. A pay stub obtained by the Union indicated that the regular hourly rate of pay for a replacement worker in July 2010 was $40 a hour for 64 “regular hours of work” for a total of $2560.00 in gross pay, plus an additional $2,640.00 for 44 hours of overtime hours in the same week, plus another $2240.00 in misc pay and $297.60 in vacation pay for a total of $7737.60 gross pay in a single week. Ironically, the issue of overtime pay was one of the unresolved items at the bargaining table. 13 DJ Vale: Voisey's Bay Production To Ramp Up, Strike Talks Resume, Trading Markets.Com, July 16 th 2010, http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/vale_dj-vale-voisey-s-bay-production-to-ramp-up-strike-talksresume-1045965.html Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour Page 38
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January 7, 2011 - Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

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