The nearly 290 office, technical and professional workers at Vale Inco's Sudbury operations represented by United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2020 have voted 84.5 per cent to ratify a three-year offer put forward by the company.
The nearly 290 office, technical and professional workers at Vale Inco's Sudbury operations represented by
United Steelworkers (USW) Local 2020 have voted 84.5 per cent to ratify a three-year offer put forward by the company.
Despite the fact it "fell short of members' expectations," the deal was nevertheless a good one, says USW Area Co-ordinator Gerry Loranger.
The contract takes effect April 1 and runs to March 31, 2013. It keeps busy the nearly 50 members who have been retrained to do the work of Local 6500 workers, which continue on their nine-month strike.
The deal includes a series of wage increases, with a two per cent increase on Jan. 1, 2011 and 2012, with a 2.5 per cent increase in 2013.
Employees with 30 years of service or more who choose to retire before Jan. 1, 2011 will also receive a $20,000 retirement bonus.
A series of improvements have also been made to provisions for contracting out, job posting and job security.
The agreement ensures new employees enroll in a defined contribution plan, while current employees will be able to choose whether to convert their pension to this new plan or to remain in the existing defined benefit plan.
Although the deal fundamentally positive, the bargaining committee had recommended voting against the deal, says Loranger.
The reason for the negative recommendation came from the priorities initially articulated by the membership, which were twofold.
This includes the retroactive application of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP) to Local 2020 members for 2009, allowing them to benefit from Vale Inco's corporate performance last year. This was offered to non-union employees last year, but not to members of Local 2020.
The company has suggested a $5,000 payment as compensation, which technically would have been less than had members received the full AIP payment, says Loranger.
The second sticking point was of a "me too" provision put forward by the bargaining committee. This would have allowed Local 2020, who settled before Local 6500, to receive any benefits later negotiated by their sister local. This was turned down by Vale Inco.
Although the other elements of the company's offer were good, the priorities outlined by the union meant the committee was bound to recommend against it.
"It's like if your wife asks you to go out to the store to buy milk, you can't come back with some cream," he says.
Loranger says he'd like to see Vale Inco take a deal "in a similar direction" to Local 6500, whose struggles have been top of mind for the bargaining committee throughout Local 2020's negotiations.
Having sat at the bargaining table with Local 2020 for both this deal and the one signed with Xstrata Nickel on March 1, Loranger says the two have different plans, with "very, very different" dynamics. "(Vale has) a different philosophy towards compensating employees," says Loranger.
“The message was mixed yesterday (at the meeting),” Loranger said. “There was some support for our recommendation and support for the deal. Like I said yesterday, it was a tough decision the members were asked to make, and there would be lots of discussion and debate, and that's exactly what happened.”
“Based on the nine month (strike by Local 6500 members) here in Sudbury, I don't think they can get more,” said Randy Hoop, a material co-ordinator at Creighton Mine, who said he voted in favour of accepting the contract.
“Right now, today, dealing with Vale Inco, which is a major company, it's not the time to go on strike. There's a time to fight and a time not to fight. This is a time not to fight.”
Hoop, who only has one year left with Vale Inco before he can retire, said he doesn't think the move to a new pension plan for new hires is a big deal.
“A DC (defined contribution) pension is a portable pension. If you work 10 or 15 years at (Vale) Inco and leave, and you have a DC pension, you take that pension with you. In that aspect, it's better than a guaranteed payout.”
Loranger said his bargaining committee decided to recommend rejection of the contract in part to support striking Steelworkers Local 6500 members.
“As a committee, we felt strongly that we had to do our part in support of Local 6500's struggle,” he said.
“We did not forget about (Local 6500). We spoke about them, as a committee several times, and what efforts we could do to support Local 6500.”
Contract proposals offered to Local 6500 members have been posted on the website,
www.valeinconegotiations.com.
With files from Northern Life.
