Tension still high: union
CAROL MULLIGAN | THE SUDBURY STAR
Representatives for United Steelworkers and Vale Ltd. met Friday to discuss the unions complaint that contractors are doing work that 18 laid-off Steelworkers could be doing.
USW staff representative Myles Sullivan said the parties are trying to reach a resolution about the use of contractors as operations at the nickel company begin to return to normal after an almost year-long strike.
About 2,700 members of USW Local 6500 are back to work six weeks after they approved a new five-year collective agreement with the nickel company based in Brazil.
Vale spokeswoman Angie Robson said all employees except the 18 workers laid off are back on the job and all of Vales Sudbury plants are on their way to ramping up to full production.
Both furnaces have been fired up at the Copper Cliff Smelter Complex, and Vale is predicting it will return to full production in Sudbury by the end of September.But Sullivan said life has not returned to normal for his 18 members who were told just after the strike ended that they no longer had jobs.
Tensions are also running high in many workplaces as Steelworkers off the job for more than a year, in some instances, reclaim their places in the company
Read more @ The Sudbury Star.
