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Xstrata Nickel negotiations getting down to wire

Updated at 6:58 p.m. on Jan. 31 Mine Mill Local 598/CAW said it will be holding a Ratification or Information meeting on Feb. 1 for members employed at Xstrata Nickel Sudbury operations. The meeting will take place at the Dowling Leisure Centre.
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Mine Mill Local 598/CAW workers are seen here during a three-week-long strike against Falconbridge in 2004. That's the last time the workers were involved in a labour dispute. Their union has successfully negotiated two contracts in a row with Xstrata, which bought Falconbridge in 2006, without resorting to strike action. Local 598 is now working on negotiating a third contract with the company. File photo.

Updated at 6:58 p.m. on Jan. 31


 

Mine Mill Local 598/CAW said it will be holding a Ratification or Information meeting on Feb. 1 for members employed at Xstrata Nickel Sudbury operations.

The meeting will take place at the Dowling Leisure Centre. The first meeting will be held at 1 p.m.; the second meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m.

“We are urging all of our members from Xstrata Nickel Sudbury Operations to come out to one of these very important meetings,” union officials said in a news release.

As of 6:50 p.m. on Jan. 31, both the union and Xstrata were still at the bargaining table. There was no other information other that was is contained in the press release.

Union president Richard Paquin was unavailable for comment.

For more information visit www.minemill598.com.

Original story

 

 

As the midnight Jan. 31 strike deadline approaches, negotiations between Mine Mill Local 598/CAW and Xstrata Nickel are still ongoing as of the late afternoon.

Xstrata Nickel spokesperson Iyo Grenon confirmed in an email statement that the two parties are still at the bargaining table.

Local 598 staff told Northern Life earlier Jan. 31 that the union's president, Richard Paquin, was not available to speak to the media because he's in negotiations. The union represents 900 Xstrata Nickel workers.

In 2010, during the last set of negotiations, a contract was reached in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, a few hours after the last contract expired.

In that case, the union didn't set up picket lines because they knew they were close to a deal, Paquin said.

The last set of negotiations were held in the middle of Steelworkers Local 6500's year-long strike against Vale. Local 6500 now has a deal with Vale that doesn't expire until May 31, 2015.

Local 598 went on strike twice in the early 2000s — six and a half months in 2000 and three weeks in 2004 — when the company was still owned by Falconbridge.

However, since Xstrata bought out Falconbridge in 2006, Local 598 has negotiated two contracts in a row without going on strike.

Check back to NorthernLife.ca for updates on this story as they become available.


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