Xstrata Layoffs, Update

Below is a link, updating the Xstrata layoff story at their Sudbury based nickel mining operations. Mine Mill/CAW - Local 598 has negotiated a deal with the employer that provides an additional sixteen weeks of pay for those workers facing layoff. This deal in effect recognizes the clause in Xstrata's original purchase agreement of Falconbridge Ltd. where the purchaser agreed to provide job security for the production and maintenance workers for a period of three years. That clause remains in effect until June 2009.

For those who feel that Union's have no place in today's business environment, look hard at this deal. Without the active and continuing pressure from the Union, the company would have simply walked away from their commitment to job security. This was an issue that the Union took on and won. Tony Clement and the Federal Government gave up on the people of Sudbury. Union's are needed in these times of economic uncertainty more than ever.

Company's in this country do not exist in a vacuum. They are not built on the efforts of a single individual or group. In order to remain in business they rely on all sorts of taxpayer funded services from the education of their workforce to transportation, policing, medical services etc. All of these externalized services would be cost centres for their businesses if not for the taxpayers. As such business has an obligation to the job security of its workers. It is clear that the current government does not feel that it is their place to protect the workers in this country. The workers will have to step up and organize to protect themselves. Unions are there to help.

http://www.sudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1435294

Also read the article in Northern Life for more information. The Union has also posted a summary of the agreement on their website.

Update from the Sudbury Star, February 15/09