VALE: Protesters burn vehicles, buildings at New Caledonia nickel mine

REUTERS, 27/05 09:15 CET

http://www.euronews.com/newswires/2520788-protesters-burn-vehicles-buildings-at-new-caledonia-nickel-mine/

By Cecile Lefort and Melanie Burton

Photo Thierry Perron

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Rioters torched vehicles, equipment and buildings at Vale’s nickel mine in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia over the weekend, as anger boiled over about a chemical spill in a local river.

The $6 billion Vale plant at Goro in southern New Caledonia was closed earlier this month after some 100,000 litres of acid-tainted effluent leaked, killing about 1,000 fish and sparking renewed protests at the mine site.

The Vale plant has a production target of 60,000 tonnes of nickel at full capacity, compared with global supply of around 2 million tonnes. But it has been beset by problems in recent years, including several chemical spills and violent protests.

Tensions between the local population and Vale escalated over the weekend with young protesters frustrated at the latest spill by the Brazilian-based giant and a lack of response from indigenous Kanak chiefs, according to local media. Television footage showed images of burnt mining vehicles and equipment.

“There was damage at the site, but no damage to the plant. We had burned vehicles, one administration building was damaged, but no damage to the plant itself,” Vale spokesman Cory McPhee told Reuters.

Peter Poppinga, an executive director at Vale, told Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes newspaper that damage to the mining site was estimated at at least $20 million to $30 million, including the destruction of perhaps one third of the truck fleet.

“If there is no activity for several months, we will shut the plant, but that’s not the case. The closing of the plant is not on the table,” Poppinga was quoted as saying.

The scale of the damage could not immediately be independently verified.

Nickel mining is a key industry in New Caledonia, which holds as much as a quarter of the world’s known reserves. Vale’s plant is the second-largest employer in the southern province, with some 3,500 employees and contractors, including a large number of Filipino workers.

PLANT HALTED

New Caledonia’s southern provincial government ordered an immediate halt to operations after the spill earlier this month and started legal proceedings under its environmental code.

The local government, which changed leadership last week, said it would not lift the production suspension until safety procedures were revised, an oversight committee was reinstated and an independent expert’s report was completed.

“We got to this point because, clearly, part of the local youth, particularly from the southern tribes, reject the perspective of maintaining the plant in activity, even with the reinforcement of safety procedures,” Philippe Michel, the newly elected president of New Caledonia’s Southern Province, told local television on Monday.

Global nickel prices hit a 27-month high earlier this month and are up by about 40 percent this year, driven by a decision by Indonesia to halt exports of raw nickel ores and news of the Goro closure. Indonesia’s ban left nickel buyers in China and Japan scrambling to secure supplies amid a fear of shortages.

“Vale’s got lots of issues in the country,” said Tom Price, a mining analyst at UBS in Sydney. “Nickel has recovered back to the marginal cost of production. It’s inviting for them to continue to invest, but it’s been a world of pain for them for quite a few years.”

Given market expectations of Goro production of just 15,000-20,000 tonnes this year, any impact on nickel prices from the closure would be sentiment driven, Price added. LME nickel prices rose 0.7 percent to $19,745 a tonne on Tuesday.

The Goro mine produced 4,100 tonnes of nickel in the first quarter, up 41 percent on a year ago. Vale is the world’s second-biggest nickel producer, but Goro made up just 6 percent of its nickel output in the first quarter.

The mine employs high pressure technology and acids to leach nickel from abundant tropical laterite ores.

“There is an inherent risk in Goro’s type of operation,” said Gavin Mudd, a professor of environmental engineering at Monash University in Melbourne.

(Additional reporting by James Regan; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Richard Pullin)

The Globe and Mail: Glencore, Vale discuss merger of nickel operations in Ontario

ERIC REGULY AND MARTA LILLO

Source: The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Oct. 11 2013, 10:39 AM EDT

Glencore Xstrata PLC and Vale SA have convened “exploratory” talks aimed at combining their respective nickel operations in Sudbury, Ont., in a move aimed at cutting costs, sources close to Glencore said.

Declining nickel prices have forced the companies to consider the move, the source said. Prices for nickel traded on the London Metal Exchange have fallen by more than a quarter from this year’s high of nearly $19,000 (U.S.) a tonne in February to less than $14,000 a tonne now.

Vale has controlled its share of nickel operations in the Sudbury Basin, several hundred kilometres north of Toronto, since the Brazilian company bought Inco Ltd. for $20.3-billion in 2006. Xstrata, which was bought by Glencore earlier this year, paid $18.2-billion for Falconbridge Ltd. the same year, in order to bolster nickel holdings as the metal was hitting record highs.

Vale’s nickel operations generated $983-million out of a total $11.3-billion in operating revenue in the three months ended June 30, according to the company’s most recent earnings report. The nickel revenue fell from $1.08-billion in the last quarter of 2012.

Baar, Switzerland-based Glencore Xstrata’s nickel revenue fell to $1.7-billion in the six months ended June 30, down from $1.6-billion in the year-earlier period, according to the company’s most recent earnings report.

“The consolidation of Sudbury is way overdue,” Terrence Ortslan, managing director at TSO & Associates, said in an interview. “The time has come to look for how the negatives can be avoided,” he added, referring to nickel mining costs relative to prices.

Efforts to merge Sudbury nickel operations date back decades, the most recent of which started in 2003, when Inco and Falconbridge started talks to merge the two companies. Those talks led to a failed attempt to combine the two after Xstrata and Vale began bidding for the two Canadian companies.

Many of the Sudbury nickel mines are so close to each other that some operate side-by-side, with shared shafts and elevators.

“Nickel has become a financial catastrophe for Vale in Canada,” said John Tumazos, research analyst at Very Independent Research LLC. “Also, the CAD has strengthened since Vale acquired Inco, making it more expensive to pay wages. Meanwhile, nickel prices have fallen about 75 per cent since 2007.”

Canada: OFL Says Justice is Not Served Until Vale Executives Are Behind Bars

Source: Yahoo! Finance

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sep 20, 2013) - Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) blasted the criminal justice system for failing to bring criminal charges against Vale Canada Limited and its executives for the 2011 deaths of two miners in Vale's Stobie Mine in Sudbury.

"When a company's negligence causes worker deaths, a crime has been committed, but when the judicial system fails to prosecute that company criminally, a second crime has been committed," said OFL President Sid Ryan. "Even a one million dollar fine for regulatory infractions is a miscarriage of justice when the Vale bosses responsible for putting profit ahead of worker safety are allowed to walk free."

In letters sent to Ontario's Attorney General and Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services the OFL demanded answers as to why the Canadian managers of Brazilian mining giant Vale were not criminally charged for the deaths of two miners buried by a "run of muck" after the company ignored documented concerns and violated safety standards. While the September 17 sentence made history as the largest total fine ever meted for Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act violations, the OFL lambasted the judicial system for failing to uphold the Criminal Code of Canada. The OFL called on Attorney General John Gerretsen to press the crown to lay charges and demanded that Minister Madeleine Meilleur use her powers under the Police Services Act of Ontario to impose province-wide directives and guidelines requiring criminal investigations of every workplace tragedy to determine whether employer negligence was at fault.

"It is a cruel irony that Canadian workers have learned that Vale will escape criminal conviction in the same week that a U.K. court set trial dates for a Welsh mine boss and company charged with manslaughter and gross negligence for a 2011 flood in the Gleision mine that claimed the lives of four workers," said OFL Secretary-Treasurer Nancy Hutchison, herself a former miner who suffered from occupational disease. "While courts around the world are imposing criminal consequences on negligent employers, Ontario's legal system is failing to defend the lives of workers."

The OFL launched its "Kill a Worker, Go to Jail" campaign after the December 24, 2009 scaffold tragedy at a west-end Toronto building. The campaign calls for criminal code investigations into all workplace fatalities. In 2003, the Criminal Code was amended through Bill C-45 (known as the Westray Bill) to hold employers criminally liable for the deaths of workers. To date, only one Ontario company - Metron Construction - has been convicted criminally for a workplace fatality and not one negligent employer has been sentenced to prison. Despite damning evidence released in 2012 by the United Steelworkers (USW) demonstrating that the deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram in the Stobie Mine were preventable and Vale had failed to abide by provincial and internal safety requirements, criminal charges have yet to be laid against the company.

"Vale has already plead guilty for health and safety violations, so the next step is to hold the company and it's managers criminally responsible for the fatal result of those shortcuts," said Ryan. "For Vale, fines are simply the cost of doing business. The company is totally unrepentant and went to incredible lengths to bury the facts and cover its tracks. In Ontario, an average of 80 workers are being killed on the job every year. This carnage in our workplaces will never stop until negligent bosses are marched from their executive suite to a prison cell."

The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario. For information, visit www.OFL.ca and follow the OFL on Facebook and Twitter: @OFLabour.

Contact:

Joel Duff
Communications Director, OFL
416-707-0349 (cell)
jduff@ofl.ca

Vale fined $1M in Sudbury miners' deaths

Vale Canada Ltd. fined $1,050,00 after 2 workers fatally injured in 2011

CBC News Posted: Sep 17, 2013 4:26 PM ET Last Updated: Sep 17, 2013 5:07 PM ET

A Ministry of Labour investigation found that there had been a hang-up of wet muck in the ore pass that eventually gave way and killed two miners in June 2011 at Vale's Stobie Mine in Sudbury. The ministry said the wet muck was a result of Vale not dealing with water accumulation in the mine.

Mining giant Vale Canada has been fined more than $1 million in connection with a double fatality in 2011 in which miners were buried in a torrent of mud.

Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram were killed when wet mud and ore flooded the tunnel where they were working at Vale's Stobie Mine in Sudbury, Ont.,  on June 8, 2011.

Chenier and Fram were working in an ore pass at the 3000 foot level, transferring broken rock and ore upwards when there was a sudden release of muck, sand and water. The run of muck came through a transfer gate, burying one working and hitting another causing massive crush injuries.

The Ministry of Labour laid charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in the accident after finding there had been a blockage of wet muck in the ore pass. It also said Vale had failed to deal with earlier water issues in the mine.

The company was fined $1,050,000, the highest fine ever given under the health and safety act, by an Ontario court.

In a Sudbury courtroom on Tuesday, Vale pleaded guilty to three counts:

• Failing to prevent the movement of material through an ore pass while hazardous conditions existed.
• Failing to maintain the drain holes at the 2,400-foot level of the Stobie Mine, leading to the accumulation of water, creating wet muck which then hung up.
• Failing to ensure that water, slimes and other wet material was not dumped into the ore pass at the 2,600-foot level of the mine.

Vale was fined $350,000 for each count.

Keith Birnie, the supervisor of the deceased men, had also been facing six charges, but the Crown elected to drop its case against Birnie, saying there was a slim chance of conviction. 

The fines come many months following a Steelworkers Local 6500 report that alleged nickel mining giant Vale failed to take all reasonable steps to prevent the deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram at Stobie Mine.

Chenier, 35, and Fram, 26, were killed by a run of muck, described by the union as an avalanche of wet rocks, gravel and sand.

Vale warned prior to tragedy

The union said there was too much water in the muck, making it sticky. It said the muck became lodged in what is known as an ore pass. When Chenier tried to assess the problem, the rock gave way and buried both men.

The report said Chenier wrote an email to management in the days before he died, warning there was a buildup of water in the ore pass and saying all dumping and blasting should stop until the water situation was under control.

"Jason Chenier sent two emails to management warning them of the dangerous water levels, but nothing was done," Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand said. "We don't know why. Management failed to interview with our team."

Steelworkers, during a news conference in early 2012, called for a public inquiry.

The union also asked the Attorney General's Office to consider criminal charges against company officials, under what is known as the Westray bill. Named after a coal mining disaster in Nova Scotia, the bill makes workplace negligence a criminal offence.

USW Local 6500 Double Fatalities Investigation Report

Inquiry to start into 15-month strike at Labrador nickel mine

Published Sunday October 24th, 2010
THE CANADIAN PRESS

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - The Newfoundland government will go ahead with an industrial inquiry into the 15-month strike at the Voisey's Bay nickel mine in Labrador.

Talks between the United Steelworkers and the mine's owner, Vale Newfoundland and Labrador Ltd., ended without agreement Friday despite a last-minute bid to end the stalemate by Premier Danny Williams.

Williams had imposed a deadline on the two sides to resolve the dispute, saying he would go ahead with the inquiry if a deal wasn't reached by last Friday.

Human Resources Minister Susan Sullivan says she's dismayed that the government has to intervene.

She says the government has given a three-member commission broad terms of reference to investigate the dispute.

Mensagem dos trabalhadores da Vale no Canadá (ainda em greve!)

Não somos canadenses de segunda classe

Por Darren Cove

Presidente

Sindicato United Steelworkers, Seção Local 9508

Este mês, as províncias de Newfoundland e Labrador — e centenas de nossas famílias trabalhadoras — receberam uma dúbia distinção canadense, resultado da agenda anti-sindical agressiva e sem precedentes de uma empresa estrangeira.

A greve no setor de mineração em Voisey’s Bay, provocada verão passado pela gigante Vale, sediada no Brasil, entrou em seu segundo ano no domingo, dia 1º de agosto. A greve se torna assim o conflito trabalhista de maior duração em toda a história de um século de operações canadenses da mineradora Inco, adquirida pela Vale em 2006.

Talvez o fator mais perturbador seja o fato desta disputa estar sendo prolongada pelo tratamento de segunda classe dado pela Vale aos trabalhadores de Newfoundland e Labrador em comparação com funcionários da Vale em outras províncias do Canadá.

O nosso sindicato, o United Steelworkers Local 9508, já se ofereceu para concluir a greve em Voisey’s Bay com base em sua aceitação do mesmo acordo a que a Vale chegou mês passado com seus funcionários da província de Ontario. Mas a Vale esta tentando ditar aos trabalhadores de nossa província — incluindo muitos funcionários indígenas — que aceitem um contrato inferior, com abonos e benefícios menores em comparação com o acordo a que se chegou em Ontario.

Ficamos ofendidos com o fato de que uma empresa estrangeira como a Vale trata os trabalhadores de Newfoundland e Labrador como canadenses de segunda classe. Nós levamos à atenção do primeiro-ministro provincial Danny Williams a conduta perniciosa da Vale, e respeitosamente pedimos a ele e a seu governo que ajudem-nos a resolver essa situação insustentável.

Há mais de um ano, nossos 130 membros e suas famílias resistem corajosamente aos ataques da Vale sobre sua renda e padrões de trabalho. Para nós é insultante e repreensível que a Vale dite que 130 trabalhadores em nossa província devam aceitar um sistema de abonos e acordo coletivo inferiores àqueles oferecidos aos 3.000 trabalhadores de Ontario.

Entretanto, a Vale continua a agir com impunidade na implantação de sua agenda, inclusive com seu uso de fura-greves, o que corrói o processo de negociação coletiva e comprovadamente cria conflitos trabalhistas mais longos e amargos.

Com seus vastos recursos e poder, e uma tradição de impor a sua vontade impiedosamente aos trabalhadores de países em desenvolvimento, a Vale tem demonstrado pouco interesse em chegar a um acordo em Voisey’s Bay em que ambas as partes cedessem. A Vale parece estar disposta a prolongar a greve até que os trabalhadores de Newfoundland e Labrador aceitem um status de segunda classe.

Também fica claro que a posição da Vale não se baseia em constrangimentos econômicos de qualquer natureza. A Vale se manteve imensamente lucrativa durante a recessão global, e suas próprias projeções sinalizam lucros ainda maiores no futuro próximo. A Vale virá a faturar bilhões explorando os recursos naturais de nossa província em Voisey’s Bay — uma das jazidas minerais mais ricas de seu tipo em todo o mundo.

A Vale insiste que não quer eliminar ou quebrar o nosso sindicato. Se for verdade, por que então ela está adotando uma abordagem tão truculenta? Por que ela está ditando que os trabalhadores de Newfoundland e Labrador, que seus funcionários indígenas, devem aceitar um sistema de abonos e contrato de trabalho inferiores aos dos trabalhadores de Ontario?

Com a nossa greve agora em seu segundo ano, a Vale não demonstra sinais de que abandonará sua conduta arrogante e “linha-dura” com relação aos trabalhadores de nossa província.

O povo e o governo de Newfoundland e Labrador deram à Vale o privilégio de lucrar maciçamente explorando as riquezas minerais de nossa província. Em troca, essa empresa estrangeira parece crer que pode ditar ao nosso povo trabalhador e suas comunidades que eles receberão tratamento de segunda classe a uma fatia menor da riqueza que geramos.

Alegra-nos a perspectiva de trabalhar com o Primeiro Ministro Williams e nosso governo para garantir que a Vale trate as famílias trabalhadoras de Newfoundland e Labrador com a igualdade de respeito e dignidade que merecemos.

Membros do USW ratificam Acordo Coletivo de 5 anos com a Vale

Trabalhadores aprovam novo contrato com 75% de votação, encerrando a greve de um ano.

8 de julho de 2010


Sudbury, Port Colborne - Membros do United Steelworkers (USW) em Sudbury e Port Colborne (Ontario) aprovaram o novo acordo coletivo hoje, encerrando a greve de um ano de duração contra a mineradora Vale,.

Membros do sindicato USW Local 6.500 em Sudbury votaram 75% a favor do novo contrato, enquanto membros de Port Colborne (USW Local 6.200) ratificaram o acordo com uma margem de 74%.

"Nossos membros têm falado e eu acredito que todo mundo respeita as decisões que eles fizeram em circunstâncias extremamente difíceis", disse Wayne Fraser, diretor do USW do distrito de Ontário e da parte atlântica do Canadá.

"Nós parabenizamos nossos membros pela determinação, espírito e solidariedade que demonstraram ao longo do ano passado numa a luta sem precedentes contra esta enorme corporação multinacional", disse o presidente do USW Local 6200, Wayne Rae.

"Nós também estendemos nossos sinceros agradecimentos a nossa comunidade pela grande apoio durante ao longo de todo o ano passado, e às incontáveis pessoas, sindicatos e outros grupos ao redor do mundo, que demonstraram uma solidariedade internacional incrível com os nossos membros", disse John Fera, Presidente da USW Local 6500 .

Os destaques do novo acordo coletivo, que decorre até 31 de maio de 2015, incluem:

- aumento do salário-hora para todos, com aumento da ajuda de custo de vida a cada cinco anos. Assim, elevando o reajuste salarial para entre $ 2,25 e US $ 2,50 por hora dentro da duração do contrato.

- Melhorias para o atual Plano de Pensão de Benefício Definido, aumentando para $ 41.400 por ano, com a indexação de ajuda para o custo de vida para toda a vida, junto com um plano de saúde para todos durante o tempo de vida.

- O Plano de Previdência de Contribuição Definida para os novos contratados, que prevê contribuições da empresa igual a 8% do salário base regular dos trabalhadores. Além disso, os funcionários serão capazes de fazer contribuições adicionais que variam de 2% a 6% do salário regular, combinando com as contribuições da empresa dentro de certos limites. O novo plano também incluirá a cobertura em caso de invalidez de longo prazo para os trabalhadores.

- Como resultado das negociações bem firmes e sustentadas, o programa de bônus de níquel irá permitir que os funcionários ganhem até US $ 15.000 por ano, além de salário regular.

"Nos últimos 12 meses, nossos membros permaneceram unidos frente a uma adversidade incrível", disse Fraser. "Eles demonstraram grande caráter e podem manter a cabeça erguida quando retornarem ao trabalho."

"Como os nossos irmãos e irmãs em Voisey's Bay NLF seguem em negociações, nossos membros em Sudbury e Port Colborne manterão solidariedade a eles, pois continuam a lutar pelo tratamento justo que eles merecem", disse Fraser.

Contatos: Wayne Fraser, District 6 USW Director, 416-577-4045;
John Fera, USW Presidente Local 6500, 705-561-3093;
Rae Wayne, USW Presidente Local 6200, 905-941-6200.

Nota da Vale sobre o fim da greve no Canadá

Vale ratifica acordo com trabalhadores no Canadá

Rio de Janeiro, 9 de julho de 2010 - A Vale S.A. (Vale) informa que ratificou novos acordos coletivos de cinco anos com os sindicatos United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500 e 6200, que representam funcionários de produção e manutenção em Sudbury e Port Colborne, Ontário, Canadá. Os acordos marcam o fim da greve iniciada em julho de 2009.

"Nós estamos muito felizes com os resultados da votação de ratificação", disse Tito Martins, Diretor Executivo da Vale para Metais Básicos. "O acordo estabelece uma nova relação de trabalho com nossos empregados e o sindicato, e nos permite avançar com nossos planos de longo-prazo para o crescimento sustentável. Nós atingimos o que precisávamos alcançar para a saúde de longo-prazo do negócio, com a introdução de um novo plano de pensão na modalidade contribuição definida e com mudanças no sistema de bônus existente, incluindo um limite na remuneração variável e um novo ponto de gatilho mais realístico. Nós esperamos retornar a níveis normais de produção e construir o futuro junto com nossos empregados."

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Para mais informações, contatar:
+55-21-3814-4540
Roberto Castello Branco: roberto.castello.branco@vale.com
Viktor Moszkowicz: viktor.moszkowicz@vale.com
Carla Albano Miller: carla.albano@vale.com
Marcio Loures Penna: marcio.penna@vale.com
Samantha Pons: samantha.pons@vale.com

Vale condenada no Canadá por contaminaçao

Depois de mais de dez anos de batalha em uma açao coletiva judicial (que teria sido a maior class action ambiental da história do Canadá), os mais de 6.500 habitantes vitimas de contaminaçao acabam de ganhar açao contra a Vale, na qual ela foi condenada pela Corte Superior de Justiça da Provincia de Ontario a pagar indenizaçoes que perfazem um total de 32 milhoes de dolares canadenses (o valor da indenizaçao que cada morador receberá vai depender de seu nivel de proximidade em relaçao a refinaria, variando entre 23.000, 9.000, 2.500 dolares canadenses).

O caso foi incluído no dossiê dos impactos e violaçoes da Vale pelo mundo e comentado durante o I Encontro dos Atingidos pela Vale, e se refere a uma localidade chamada Port Colborne, onde a entao mineradora INCO manteve uma refinaria por algumas décadas. Ao comprar a INCO, a Vale foi obrigada a assumir esse passivo.

Maiores informaçoes sobre a recente sentença (em inglês) podem ser obtidas aqui.

Nesta quarta (07/7) e quinta (08/7) os olhos, ouvidos e coraçoes seguem voltados para o Canadá, onde os mais de 3.500 trabalhadores em greve vao votar sobre a minuta do acordo estabelecida entre Vale e USW, após longa greve que no próximo dia 13 de julho completará 1 ano.

Vale reaches tentative deal with Sudbury miners to end historic strike

July 4, 2010

Source: CTV News

The end to a long-running and bitter strike in Ontario is in sight as mining giant Vale announced it reached a tentative agreement with production and maintenance workers on Sunday.

The metals miner says the agreement involves a new five-year contract with United Steel Workers Locals 6500 and 6200, which represent production and maintenance employees in Sudbury and Port Colborne.

“It's been a long strike and I think that both sides worked hard,” said Cory McPhee, vice-president of corporate affairs.

“Both sides wanted a deal and that ultimately was the driving force to this outcome.”

Comprehensive memorandums of agreement are to be signed between Vale and the USW in Sudbury and Port Colborne on Monday.

The deal contains a return-to-work protocol, but Vale says it is still unclear when the employees will be returning to work.

“I can't comment on timing,” Mr. McPhee said. “Once the vote process is sorted out, we'll begin bringing people back to work.”

The union will now present the deal to the membership and ratification votes will be scheduled.

“Suffice to say, we're very happy to have a deal done,” Mr. McPhee said.

The announcement comes just days after Ontario Labour Minister Peter Fonseca said the two sides had agreed to resume bargaining.

Before reaching an impasse, the two sides had agreed on all issues except one – the firing of eight workers during the strike and whether they were entitled to arbitration.

A statement from Mr. Fonseca had said the impasse on the issue was not acceptable to the communities involved nor to the government.

Mr. McPhee wouldn't say how the issue was dealt with but confirmed that it had been resolved.

“We were able to come together and get over that hurdle.”

Vale says the settlements were reached with the help of mediators Kevin Burkett and Reg Pearson.

More than 3,000 production and maintenance workers at Vale's Ontario operations in Sudbury and Port Colborne have been on strike since July 13.

Key issues included a nickel bonus, job transfers, contracting out and pensions

Vale's nickel business employs more than 11,000 people worldwide and had net sales of $3.26-billion last year, accounting for 13.6 per cent of Vale's overall revenue.




Vale settles with Sudbury miners

Sunday, July 4, 2010

The Canadian Press

Brazilian mining giant Vale has reached a tentative agreement with the United Steelworkers to end an Ontario strike that has lasted nearly a year.

The metals miner, formerly known as Inco, said Sunday it settled on a new five-year contract with two USW locals representing 3,000 production and maintenance employees in Sudbury and Port Colborne.

Comprehensive memorandums of agreement will be signed between Vale and the union on Monday.

"It's been a long strike and I think that both sides worked hard," said Cory McPhee, vice-president of corporate affairs.

"Both sides wanted a deal and that ultimately was the driving force to this outcome."

The announcement comes just days after Ontario Labour Minister Peter Fonseca said the two sides had agreed to resume bargaining.

Firings caused impasse

Before reaching an impasse, the two sides had agreed on all issues except one — the firing of eight workers during the strike and whether they were entitled to arbitration.

A statement from Fonseca had said the impasse was not acceptable to the communities involved, nor the government.

A statement from USW local 6500 said an agreement had been reached with Vale to have the firing issue heard by the Ontario Labour Relations Board, beginning Friday.

"This removes the remaining obstacle in the long struggle with Vale," the statement said.

The union said ratification votes have been scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday in Sudbury and Thursday in Port Colborne.

The tentative deal contains a return-to-work protocol, but Vale says it is still unclear when the employees will be back on the job.

"Once the vote process is sorted out, we'll begin bringing people back to work," said McPhee. "Suffice to say, we're very happy to have a deal done."

Key issues included a bonus, job transfers, contracting out and pensions.

Vale's nickel business employs more than 11,000 people worldwide and had sales of $3.26 billion US last year, accounting for 13.6 per cent of the company's overall revenue.

The workers have been on strike since July 13, 2009. Vale said the settlements were reached with the help of mediators Kevin Burkett and Reg Pearson.

At one point during the strike, the union accused Vale of bad-faith bargaining and the company had accused the union of "unlawful thuggery" over a variety of incidents on the picket lines.

Press Realease: Vale denunciada em todas as esferas do governo canadense

USW: Vale denunciada em todos as esferas do governo canadense

Políticos exigem negociações de boa fé, para acabar com o uso de fura-greves pela Vale

TORONTO, 4 de maio /PRNewswire / -- Políticos canadenses de todos as esferas do governo estão intensificando a demanda por um acordo de negociação da greve de 9 meses e meio da Vale Inco.

Em dias recentes, políticos federais, da província e municipais reforçaram a crítica à agenda antitrabalhista da brasileira Vale, incluindo seu recrutamento de fura-greves para tentar quebrar a greve de 3.500 mineiros canadenses.

Mais do que o engajamento em negociações coletivas de boas intenções, a Vale está exigindo concessões enormes de seus empregados canadenses nas províncias de Ontário e Newfoundland-Labrador. Empregados das comunidades de Sudbury e Port Colborne, de Ontário, têm estado em greve desde de 13 de julho de 2009, enquanto seus semelhantes na Baía de Voisey, Newfoundland-Labrador. têm estado nos piquetes desde de 1 de agosto do ano passado.

O governo da província Newfoundland-Labrador e o governo territorial de Nunavut conclamaram a Vale a negociar um novo acordo coletivo com trabalhadores em greve na Baía de Voisey. O novo partido democrata de Newfoundland-Labrador -- um partido de oposição na legislatura da província -- está exigindo que o governo sancione a legislação anti-fura-greves para prevenir o recrutamento destes pela Vale, para tentar quebrar a greve na Baía de Voisey.

Na legislatura de Ontário, uma proposta privada de um membro, para sancionar a legislação anti-fura-greves na província passou pela primeira leitura em 29 de abril. A proposta, apresentada pelo partido da oposição Novo Partido Democrático, ainda deve passar por uma segunda e uma terceira leitura antes de se tornar lei. Se aprovada, a legislação vai acionar a agenda de ruptura da greve da Vale pelo recrutamento de fura-greves.

Esta semana a Vale se verá diante do Comitê de Relações de Ontário -- um tribunal do governo da província -- para se defender das acusações de negociações de má-fé, registradas pela United Steelworkers. A Vale é acusada de violar seus dever legal de negociar de boa fé, ao recusar-se, por vários meses, a negociar legitimamente com o sindicato.

Também em Ontário, o governo municipal da cidade da grande Sudbury condenou a Vale pelo uso de fura-greves e por sua recusa em negociar de boa fé. A Vale também foi acusada pela violação dos regulamentos municipais ao abrigar fura-greves em acomodações não-residenciais não aprovadas.

Conselheiros municipais votaram unanimemente em 28 de abril pela exigência de que a Vale retorne à mesa para negociar um acordo justo. Os conselheiros também apelaram ao governo de Ontário para agir rapidamente quanto à sanção da legislação anti-fura-greve.

A Vale Inco tem uma "responsabilidade de mostrar liderança e boa intenção e fazer todo esforço razoável para encerrar a greve", declararam os conselheiros em sua resolução unânime. Os conselheiros duramente criticaram a Vale por provocar a greve de maior duração nas minas Inco e por prolongar a greve, por sua decisão sem precedentes de operar com fura-greves. Para somar insulto à injúria, a Vale "brada diariamente que está elevando a produção" com o uso do trabalho de fura-greves, protestaram os conselheiros.

Em nível federal, uma maioria de políticos do parlamento canadense aprovou uma resolução que clama por uma legislação mais forte para prevenir aquisições de corporações estrangeiras que não beneficiem trabalhadores canadenses e comunidades.

De acordo com a lei canadense, aquisições estrangeiras, tais como a compra da Vale, em 2006, da Inco Ltd., estão supostas a promoverem um "benefício líquido" para os canadenses e economia doméstica. Mas o governo conservador do Canadá falhou no reforço da lei, permitindo que a compra da Inco pela Vale, como também tantas outras aquisições, que resultaram em massivas perdas de emprego, redução da produção industrial e danos significativos para as comunidades canadenses.

A recém-aprovada resolução foi patrocinada pela oposição dos Novos Democratas, que repetidamente repreendeu a Vale por seu recrutamento de fura-greves, e sua recusa em negociar a bom termo com seus trabalhadores canadenses.

Contato: Wayne Fraser, United Steelworkers District 6 Director, 416-577-4045

FONTE United Steelworkers (USW04/05/2010)

Mediated talks between USW, Vale continue today in Toronto

Posted By Carol Mulligan, Sudbury Star (Tuesday, May 4, 2010)

It is now confirmed.

Members of the bargaining committees for United Steelworkers and Vale Inco Ltd. will continue talks mediated by arbitrator Kevin Burkett today (Tuesday) in Toronto.

Burkett met with representatives of the two parties April 26 and 27, and May 1 and 2, and will pick up where the parties left off today, according to his assistant, Fiona Ho.

"I am sure he will issue a statement to the press in due course," Ho said of Burkett in an e-mail to The Sudbury Star late Monday night.

Speculation has been rampant in Sudbury in recent weeks that the two parties have been meeting in an attempt to end the bitter strike by about 3,000 Steelworkers in Ontario.

USW District 6 director Wayne Fraser told The Star on Monday that the parties had talked in recent days, but denied discussions were ongoing.

Well-placed union sources told The Star that discussions with Burkett have been going on for some time, but that Burkett had imposed a media blackout on them.

About 3,000 members of United Steelworkers Local 6500 in Sudbury and Local 6200 in Port Colborne went off the job July 13 over pensions, the nickel bonus, seniority transfer rights and contracting out.

There has been little discussion between the two parties since then although Burkett did hold 10 days of mediated talks, adjourning them March 7 because the parties were too far apart.

Legal counsel for USW and Vale Inco appeared before the Ontario Labour Relations Board in Toronto on Monday regarding a bad-faith bargaining complaint filed by the union Jan. 13 on the six-month anniversary of the strike.

Oral arguments were heard by a panel of three OLRB members, led by board chair Kevin Whitaker, about the union's request to obtain documents from Vale that might support USW's complaint.

Greve em mina canadense da Vale completa nove meses

Fonte: Portal dos Metalúrgicos do Brasil
(28/04/2010)

À frente de uma fila de caminhões carregados com minério de cobre, junto ao portão da usina Clarabelle, da Vale Inco, cinco grevistas famintos cercam um fogareiro a gás no seu abrigo improvisado, assistindo à fritura de um enorme omelete.

Faz nove meses que 3.100 trabalhadores abandonaram as operações de mineração e fundição em Sudbury e Port Colborne, na província canadense de Ontário, e não parece haver razão para duvidar de que a paralisação irá prosseguir por um ano, diante das posições inflexíveis da empresa e do sindicato.

"Depois de seis meses, virou uma coisa pessoal", disse Rob, operário da fundição Clarabelle, que funciona desde outubro com operários substitutos e não-sindicalizados. "E agora já estamos com nove meses", acrescentou ele, estendendo um prato de papel para que um colega servisse sua refeição.

No lado de fora, um caminhão ronca após os 15 minutos obrigatórios de espera no portão, enquanto seguranças monitoram os grevistas e anotam as placas dos veículos.

A greve - a primeira desde que a brasileira Vale adquiriu a mineradora canadense de níquel Inco, em 2006 - ultrapassou recentemente os 261 dias da greve de 1978-79, a mais longa na história do complexo minerador de Sudbury. É um recorde do qual ninguém se gaba.

Em outra mina da Vale no Canadá, a de Voisey Bay, que produz níquel, também há uma greve se aproximando dos nove meses. As duas paralisações já reduziram em 10% a oferta global de níquel, mas graças aos estoques elevados os preços se mantiveram estáveis.

Como Rob, outros mineiros dizem que a disputa vai além das questões econômicas, embora o dinheiro - em particular as propostas de mudança na aposentadoria da categoria e um limite aos lucrativos bônus vinculados ao preço do níquel - seja uma preocupação a respeito da qual ninguém parece disposto a ceder.

Os trabalhadores temem que a Vale tente reverter 65 anos de sindicalização, para operar essa mina nos moldes de outras do mundo. Em comparação com elas, Sudbury tem melhores salários e mais segurança trabalhista.

"Eles nos odeiam. Realmente acho que eles nos odeiam", disse Chris, um robusto operário da fundição Copper Cliff, à sombra da chaminé de 380 metros de altura.

"Não se trata de economia. Se fosse, isso aqui acabaria agora mesmo. Eles querem quebrar o sindicato."

Steve Ball, porta-voz das operações da Vale em Subdury, negou que seja assim, e disse que a viabilidade de longo prazo dessa operação depende de um "fundamental" corte de gastos.

"Há 30 ou 40 anos, a Inco era a Sudbury, e a Sudbury era a Inco, e a Inco era níquel. Não é mais", disse ele, em um edifício longe dali, sem identificação (por razões de segurança), que lhe serve de escritório durante a greve.

Sudbury Star: "Anti-Vale attacks on the rise"

Source: Sudbury Star

April 16, 2010

Steelworkers and other labour groups across the world are stepping up their attacks against Vale with the release of a report they say documents the suffering of workers at the hands of the Brazil-based mining giant.

"Our union members and our communities have been suffering Vale's autocratic behavior and we fully support and stand in solidarity with all those who have suffered from the heavy-handed business practices of Vale," Leo Gerard, the international president of the United Steelworkers, said in a release. The 80-page report, called Report of the Impact and Violations of Vale in the World,was to be released in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.

Cory McPhee, Vale Inco's vice-president, corporate affairs, said Steelworkers were free to travel the world and criticize the company, but that it won't help end the nine-month labour dispute in Greater Sudbury.

"We would prefer that they focus their efforts on Sudbury and what's required to get us a deal that allows us to have a long-term and sustainable future," McPhee said.

Representatives from labour unions, fishermen, rural workers and leaders of traditional communities in areas around the world where Vale has mining operations issued the report. They said it documents specific cases and details the impacts caused by Vale and its international business activities.

In Canada, Vale -- the second largest mining company in the world -- owns Vale Inco, a nickel miner. More than 3,200 Steelworkers in Greater Sudbury, Port Colborne and Voisey's Bay, NL, have been on strike since the summer in a dispute over pensions, the nickel price bonus and transfer rights.

No talks are planned and Vale Inco said it plans to resume full production, with or without the striking Steelworkers.

Known as "Those Affected by Vale", the group of 150 represent ati v es from Peru, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Mozambique, as well as 10 states of Brazil and observers from France, the United States and Germany, are meeting for the first time to disc

uss common strategies to resist what they called "the company's aggressive business practices."

Last week, participants joined two caravans travelling to cities and states in the north and southeast of Brazil. They have talked with local unions of Vale employees and representat i ve s from communities affected by Vale projects to gain first-hand understanding of their issues.

The report was to be delivered to the board of directors of Vale and to the United Nations. Brazilian government bodies such as the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the National Bank of Economic and Social Development -- funder of large enterprises of Vale -- will also receive a copy of the report.

In its pursuit of rapid growth, Vale has become consumed with profits, the group said.

Those Affected by Vale said it's giving a voice to a diverse cross-section of global society "who have tired of suffering from violations of rights and irreversible social and environmental impacts at the hand of Vale."

Striking Steelworkers in Canada employed by Vale "are joining in solidarity with victims of pollution and contamination of their water supply and developing common strategies to reinforce the local campaigns and develop global movements to lead the company to answer for their violations at an international level."

editorial@thesudburystar.com

Article ID# 2537643

Video: Sudbury news - Bridging the Gap rally

To watch the video (3 min), click here

There Is Such a Thing as Too Much Publicity

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 Source: Money Show, Jubak's Picks

I always wonder what’s up when I see a normally quiet company begin tooting its own horn in ads. It’s almost never a good sign. Tuesday’s (March 16) Financial Times has a full-page ad from Vale (NYSE: VALE) headlined “Vale also transforms minerals into awards.” The text notes that Euromoney has just selected Vale as the best managed company in Brazil and then goes on to list other awards from Euromoney and the FT. The ad couldn’t have had anything to do with Vale’s decision to bring in strike breakers (AKA “replacement workers” or “scabs,” depending on which side of the labor/management divide you stand on) to resume production at its Canadian copper and nickel mines, could it? Workers at those mines, acquired when Vale bought Canada’s Inco in 2006 for $18 billion, have been on strike for eight months. Vale Inco workers rejected the company’s latest contract offer over the weekend. In January, Vale resumed nickel production at one smelter using already-mined inventories of nickel and non-striking workers and managers. But the company’s goal now is to resume full nickel production by the end of the second quarter. For their part, unionized workers aren’t likely to go quietly. “Vale can go and get stuffed,” Wayne Fraser, a United Steel Workers union representative, told the FT. “We are sick and tired of foreign capitalists coming in and undermining the Canadian way of life.” The strike is ostensibly about economic issues such as the company’s proposal to reduce a bonus tied to the price of nickel and a plan to exempt new hires from its defined-benefit pension plan. It hasn’t gotten any easier to sell those reductions when soaring iron ore prices have bulked up profits at Vale. But the strike is also about a clash of cultures and nationalities. Vale has created problems for itself by trying to impose a top-down management style that may have worked well in Brazil, but ran head on into a work force accustomed to a more consensual management approach. The acquisition was also part of a pitched battle over the fate of Canada’s two largest mining companies, Inco and Falconbridge, which saw both go to foreign bidders in 2006. To say that there’s lingering resentment (over the) foreign takeover of one of Canada’s key industries is a gross understatement. Vale’s troubles with what was (at the management level anyway) a friendly takeover should raise a red flag for investors looking at the rising tide of acquisitions of developed economy companies by emerging market corporations. The last six months of 2009, according to a March 15 KPMG survey, saw 102 deals in which emerging-economy companies acquired developed-economy corporations. That was a big increase from the 78 such deals in the first half of 2009. In contrast, the number of developed-economy companies acquiring emerging-market companies dropped to 216 in the second half of 2009—the fourth straight six-month period of decline in the number of such acquisitions—after having peaked at 463 in the second half of 2007. (Of course, it’s not just emerging-economy corporate managers who can destroy value for shareholders through an acquisition. For more on how acquisitions can destroy value, see this recent post.) But the Vale-Inco experience does suggest that investors looking at any company about to make such an acquisition should look for signs that the acquiring company knows how to deal with a foreign work force and management culture. A track record of a successful integration or two would be reassuring. That’s what we look for when a developed economy company does a deal in the other direction, isn’t it? The stock traded below $31 Tuesday afternoon. Full disclosure: I own shares of Vale in my personal portfolio.

Vale sues striking union, alleging ‘unlawful thuggery'

Source: The Globe and Mail

By Allison Jones
Published on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010

Striking union members in Sudbury have engaged in “unlawful thuggery” by threatening personnel during a bitter seven-month strike at Vale Inco, the company alleges in a lawsuit.

United Steelworkers Local 6500 and some of its members have posted personal information about people who are continuing to work during the strike, which has led to intimidation, threats and an assault, the mining giant alleges in its more than $1-million lawsuit.

“This has not been a peaceful strike,” the company writes in a statement of claim, filed in Superior Court in Sudbury.

“Masked picketers have engaged in criminal conduct, including an assault of a Vale Inco employee and the sabotage of Vale Inco property.”

People on the picket lines have set large fires so trucks carrying explosives and fuel can't cross, hydro wires have been cut, rail equipment has been damaged and roads have been littered with nail spikes to puncture truck tires, the statement of claim alleges.

The allegations have not been proven in court.

“The defendants' conduct is unlawful thuggery, which has nothing to do with legitimate trade union activity,” the lawsuit says. “This conduct should not be tolerated in a liberal and civilized society.”

Wayne Fraser, a director for the union in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, called the lawsuit an “antagonistic measure.”

“It's a nuisance,” said Mr. Fraser, who is not one of the 25 people directly named in the suit.

“[The allegations] are not true. They're unsubstantiated and it's just a way of Vale trying to divide the membership from its rank and file activists.”

A statement of defence has not yet been filed but is in the works, said Mr. Fraser, who also said the union plans to countersue the company for defamation.

The lawsuit comes as the two sides met with a mediator over the weekend for exploratory talks in a bid to find a way to ending a seven-month-old strike. The two sides have not formally met since the strike started.

More than 3,000 employees at Vale's mill, smelter, refinery and six nickel mines in the Sudbury area have been on strike for seven months.

At issue are proposals by Vale Inco 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.

Workers complain they shouldn't have to give concessions to a company whose parent, Brazil-based Vale S.A., earned $5.35-billion (U.S.) in 2009.

The people named in the lawsuit have been targeting Vale employees who have returned to work during the strike, as well as contractors and personnel responsible for picket line security, the company alleges.

Pictures and personal information such as addresses and phone numbers have been posted on a union website and a Facebook page.

Those singled out have had their property and homes vandalized, received anonymous phone threats at home and one employee was assaulted while jogging, the statement of claim says.

Three people named in the lawsuit were criminally charged in that attack.

After that particular assault an altered picture of the man was posted on the Facebook site showing him with scars, a throwing star embedded in his torso, other “cutting weapons” in his torso and arms and his throat slit, as well as the words “Who's Next” on his shirt, according to the lawsuit.

While he was at work one day the same man's vehicle was vandalized, with his tires slashed and the word scab spray-painted about 12 times on his car. Union placards were found on and around the car, the company alleges.

Vale to restart some Sudbury production despite strike

February 3, 2010

Source: Reuters

Brazilian miner Vale will restart one nickel mine and boost production at another at its Sudbury, Ontario, operation despite a seven-month strike at the complex, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

Vale will restart its Creighton nickel mine and run it up to full production, and will also move to full output at its Coleman mine, which has had partial production since October. The company's Garson mine has also been running at partial output since October.

Processed ore from the operations will be used to feed Vale's Copper Cliff smelter in Sudbury, which recently began operating at 50 percent capacity with nonunion workers and has been eating through stockpiled ore.

"We're just looking longer term that a source of feed will be needed," said Core McPhee, spokesman for Vale's Canadian nickel and copper operations, which the company acquired when it bought Inco in 2006.

Vale will staff the mines using workers provided from a contractor, he said.

More than 3,100 workers at Vale's operations at Sudbury and Port Colborne, Ontario, went on strike in July. On Aug. 1. workers at Vale's Voisey's Bay mine in Labrador on Canada's East Coast also went on strike.

Vale's move to partially restart the Sudbury operations last year increased tensions between the company and the United Steelworkers Union, which represents the workers.

The union was not immediately available for comment.

NO TALKS

The two sides have not returned to the bargaining table since the strike began, and they are far apart on several issues, include reforms to the company's pension plan and proposed changes to a potentially lucrative worker bonus tied to the price of nickel.

That bonus boosted miners' salaries well into six-figure territory when nickel prices jumped on 2006 and 2007, eventually hitting a record high of just under $25 a pound in May of 2007.

The lack of progress at Vale contrasts with labor relations at rival Sudbury nickel miner Xstrata, which averted a strike when it reached a last-minute deal with unionized workers early on Monday.

That deal included modifications to workers' nickel-price bonus and a negotiated restart of the company's Fraser nickel mine in Sudbury, where operations were suspended a year earlier due to weak nickel demand. Workers ratified the new three-year contract on Tuesday.

Nickel was hit hard by the 2008 economic downturn, and the price bottomed at around $4 a pound in December of that year. Nickel was trading around $8.20 a pound on Wednesday.