Xstrata Met site union, officials return to bargaining table

The two sides of a month-long strike at the Timmins-area Xstrata Copper's Kidd Creek Metallurgical Site have reached a tentative agreement.

As of Nov. 5, company officials and representatives of the Canadian Auto Workers Local 599 have agreed to renew the collective bargaining agreement at the site.

If the union vote is successful, it will mean 675 production and maintenance workers will go back on the job.

The strike began on Oct. 1 when the collective agreement expired midnight Sept. 30th .

Comments made on the CAW Local 599 web site by Ben Lefebvre, bargaining committee chairperson, made reference to highlights of the recent contract signed between Goldcorp and the United Steelworkers Local 7580 employed at the Porcupine Gold Mines.

These include a wage increase of 12 per cent over the three-year contract, improved contracting-out language, and adding sons and daughters-in-laws to the Bereavement Leave clause.

"I do not expect to achieve everything listed above nor do I expect us to win every issue we now have before the company, even though I believe them to be exactly what our members want and truly deserve," said Lefebvre on the site.