The Canadian Press
Striking Vale Inco workers in Sudbury, Ont., say the company will "start a war" if it goes through with plans to restart some of its operations using non-unionized staff.
Vale spokesman Cory McPhee said Wednesday the company will use its roughly 1,200 non-unionized staff to restart some of its operations, which have been closed since more than 3,000 unionized workers went on strike in mid-July.
He said it wasn't clear yet which operations would be restarted, but the company would likely start with its mining and milling operations and target ore zones that are high in copper and platinum group metals, as opposed to nickel.
Wayne Fraser, Ontario director for the United Steelworkers, said the company is risking violence if it restarts operations while unionized workers are still on strike.
"I think this is going to start a war in Sudbury, I really do," Mr. Fraser said.
"People are angry right now... and that anger is just below the surface right now and every little thing that (Vale does), every little bit of arrogance that they demonstrate, boils that stuff up to the surface, and at some point it will blow up."
At issue are proposals by Vale to reduce a bonus tied to the price of nickel and to exempt new employees from its defined-benefit pension plan, moving them instead to a defined-contribution plan.
Vale employees at smaller operations in Port Colborne, Ont., and Voisey's Bay, N.L., are also on strike.
This is the first strike at Vale's Canadian operations since Brazil-based Companhia Vale do Rio Doce bought the former Inco Ltd. for $19-billion in October, 2006. Earlier work stoppages at Inco have been lengthy, including a three-month strike in Sudbury in 2003 and a two-month strike at Voisey's Bay in 2006.
Mr. McPhee said operations will be started gradually to give workers time for adequate training.
"We want to make sure we get it right, which is why we haven't been specific on a startup date. Our focus now is on training people and making sure that when we do resume operations we do so successfully, efficiently and safely," he said.
"There may be areas where third-party expertise is required, and in those cases, which we will keep to a minimum, we will be bringing people in to train our own employees to do the job."
Mr. Fraser said the union is concerned for the safety of the non-unionized workers who will be doing "very, very skilled and very, very dangerous" jobs.
He said the cost of restarting Vale's mining operations to produce only copper is far too expensive for the company to justify from a financial point of view, and accused the company of "rubbing the union's face in it."
Vale's Canadian operations include six nickel mines, a mill, a smelter and a refinery in Sudbury; a refinery in Port Colborne; a nickel-cobalt-copper mine in Voisey's Bay; and three nickel mines, a mill, a smelter and a refinery in Thompson, Man.
Vale smelts and refines its own nickel in Sudbury, but sends its copper concentrate - often found alongside nickel in underground mines - to be refined at Kidd Creek.
Earlier Wednesday, base metals miner Xstrata said it will temporarily close its copper smelting and refining operations in northern Ontario due to a shortage of copper concentrate from its suppliers, including Vale.
Xstrata, which acquired the Falconbridge operations, said the Kidd Creek copper operations near Timmins will close for seven to 10 weeks beginning Sept. 7.
Some employees will be laid off temporarily, although the number has not been finalized. The operation employed 175 people this spring.
"In addition to reduced shipments from some of Kidd's regular suppliers, concentrate availability is being compounded by the current Vale Inco strike in Sudbury," stated Thompson Hickey, general manager at the Kidd metallurgical site.
"We will make all possible efforts to support our employees through this period and we hope to be in a position to return to normal operations at the site as soon as possible."
The Kidd Creek copper smelter just came off an eight-week shutdown due to falling demand for sulphuric acid, a byproduct of the smelting process used in everything from car batteries to oil refining.
Xstrata laid off 686 salaried and unionized employees at its nickel mine in Sudbury, in February.