UPDATED April 3 at 11:30 a.m.
Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard spoke to Northern Life in person April 2 about issues surrounding the eight-and-a-half month long Steelworkers Local 6500 strike.
He said he understands that the strike is not only having a negative impact on the strikers, but on the community at large.
Gerard said he is concerned that negotiators from Vale Inco and the Steelworkers may be “talking past each other,” and that he doesn't want another set of negotiations that's “lost in translation.”
“I don't mean that by not speaking the same words, but by not understanding what those words mean,” he said.
Gerard said the Steelworkers have 8,000 bargaining units, and he's never experienced a set of negotiations where local managers who have the power make decisions are not at the bargaining table.
Vale CEO Roger Agnelli seems to have become a victim of “self-inflicted amnesia,” when he stated during negotiations last year that Sudbury is the company's highest-cost operations, Gerard said.
When Vale (then named CVRD) took over Inco in 2006, they treated it like a sought-after prize, Gerard said. As for the cost of production, most of Vale's other operations are open-pit mines, and there can be no cost comparison to hard rock, deep mines like Sudbury, he said.
The Sudbury ore body is one of the richest in the world, with every major type of mineral in abundance, he said.
The recent ratification of a contract between Steelworkers Local 2020 and Vale Inco proves that the company can offer a deal that can be ratified. He said the company ought to use the same process with Local 6500.
At the same time, he thinks the company made the offer to drive a wedge between Local 6500 and Local 2020. The company also put out a press release about the Local 2020 contract in Brazil to discredit Local 6500's work to get Brazilian workers on their side, he said.
He said the union will continue to raise awareness around the world of Vale Inco's actions in Canada, something which he hopes will pressure the company to negotiate. (Watch Vale Inco CEO Tito Martins discuss strike)
"This week there's a global week of action," Gerard said. "In every corner of the world where Vale has representation, workers will be expressing their displeasure at the company's methods. That has a global impact on them. We are communicating in the near future with all the analysts and investors that hold stock in the company about the facts. Just the facts."
As well, he expects the price of nickel to rise to $12 to $14 a pound as the economy improves, and this will also put pressure on the company to negotiate a fair deal.
Gerard said he is optimistic because of the recent mediated negotiations between the company and the union. “We made some progress. I think more progress could be made if the parties were actually able to talk to each other.”
