BY KEITH LACEY
The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) filed an official grievance with Inco Ltd. Thursday over the company?s plans for a month-long shutdown of the Copper Cliff smelter complex in May.
The company must respond to the union?s grievance within 10 days and must meet with union leaders shortly thereafter, said Dan O?Reilly, northeastern Ontario area co-ordinator for the Steelworkers.
?If we meet and don?t like what they have to say, then we go to arbitration and an arbitrator decides who is right and who isn?t right,? said O?Reilly.
The union ?has no problem? with Inco running a 11-month operation here in Sudbury, however, there is contract language in the collective bargaining agreement that any extended shutdown must take place in July or August, said O?Reilly.
?In our opinion, this is not a maintenance shutdown as the company claims, but a vacation shutdown...our employees who will be affected should not be forced to take their vacation in May,? said O?Reilly.
?We believe we have contract language that ensures any shutdown must take place in either July or August.?
If the company insists it must undertake a shutdown outside of those two months, then workers should be laid off and paid 90 per cent of their wages during the length of the shutdown, which is again in the collective agreement, said O?Reilly.
If the union didn?t object or file a grievance, there would be nothing to prevent the company from planning shutdowns in January of February and forcing workers affected by the shutdown of a plant or mine to take all or most of their vacation time during the winter, he said.
?If we don?t fight this, our guys would be in jeopardy of taking their holidays whenever the company saw fit...vacation time is very important in any business and we can?t allow this to happen,? he said.
