Inco union to urge members to reject labor offer Sun May 28, 3:03 AM ET
TORONTO (Reuters) - The union at Inco Ltd.'s nickel operations in Sudbury, Ontario, said on Sunday it would recommend its members vote against a latest labor contract offer from the company.
"It's an insult to our members," said Wayne Fraser, representative with the United Steelworkers union, after the company presented the union with a contract offer early Sunday.
Fraser said the main sticking points were wages, pensions and job security and that a strike was even more imminent.
The union represents about 3,100 employees at the mines, smelters, refineries and processors at Inco's Sudbury operations.
Fraser said that talks broke off and negotiations were over, but Inco spokesman Cory McPhee said there was still time to talk before a May 31 deadline.
"Anything is possible between now and then," McPhee said.
The current three-year agreement expires on Wednesday, but the union imposed an earlier deadline to give it enough time to report back to its members and hold a vote.
The last time Inco negotiated a contract, in 2003, approximately 3,000 workers went on strike for three months over healthcare benefits.
Inco, which is trying to take over Falconbridge Ltd. but is itself the target of a hostile offer from Teck Cominco Ltd., produced 216 million pounds of nickel from its Ontario operations in 2005.
Swiss mining giant Xstrata Plc. has made a hostile offer for Falconbridge.
