Vale Inco, Not Operating in the Best Interest of Canadians

Vale is continuing its program of expansion regardless of the labour dispute with the USWA - Local 6500 in Sudbury. On the face of it, this is not altogether big news. This is after all a huge multi-national corporation. Earlier today it was announced that they intend to pay $1.4 billion to Thyssen-Krupp in order to increase their ownership in Siderurgica do Atlantico (CSA), a steel plant in Brazil. It is thought that this was the result of pressure from the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, (Lula), to increase employment for Brazilians by Vale. While this sort of offshore story is not the sort that I would normally comment on, it did strike me that the progressive government in Brazil is taking steps to provide stable long-term employment for its citizens. Meanwhile, in Canada, where we are supposedly part of the developed world, our federal government, under Harper, is apparently impotent when it comes to maintaining employment and the social safety net that Canadians have struggled for so long to achieve. Clearly, the political right is operating from a bancrupt idea fund.

Meanwhile, in Sudbury, Vale Inco is going to court to try and get an injunction to prevent striking Steelworkers from disrupting the flow of ore to its beneficiation operations at the Clarabelle Mill and Copper Cliff smelter. The Union contends that this is "Scab" ore,(Hot Cargo) and as such is not permitted under the previously negotiated picket line protocol,(read the full article here). While this may seem like a serious setback, its worth noting that the price of nickel, as documented on infomine.com, over the past six months has seen a steady increase. The strikers have time on their side.