USW/Syndicat des Mxe9tallos Maintains Pension Plan

Payroll increased by more than 45% in six years

Sept-Îles, April 3, 2011 – Under the new employment contract that was accepted this week, some 2,000 ArcelorMittal Mines Canada workers – members of four locals – will be entitled to increases in excess of 45% (once all monetary benefits are factored in) for the term of the agreement.

Seventy-five percent of the workers in Local 5778 today ratified the new collective agreement, which includes wage increases totalling 25.6% over six years and significant improvements in pensions and other benefits.

The Union was also successful in getting the company to backtrack on its intention to make cuts to the pension plan for new workers, which would have resulted in the introduction of a new, legally questionable, “orphan clause”.

Large companies everywhere are trying to take an axe to the defined-benefit pension plan. At the Fermont and Port-Cartier locations, we not only refused to create a two-tier system, we also succeeded in securing significant improvements to the pension plan,” indicated Alain Croteau, the USW/Syndicat des Métallos’ regional coordinator.

The average wage increase was 4.1%, and the total 25.6%. Additionally, bonuses were raised and adjustments made based on the cost-of-living increase. After 30 years of service, the average benefit will be raised by $210 monthly – an 18% increase. Current retirees will also be entitled to a 3% enhancement in their benefit amount.

Improvements also undertaken at the mine will enable longer breaks for night-shift workers, equivalent to the breaks allowed during the day shift.

The new employment contract also ensures greater job security for new workers: As soon as the probation period is successfully completed, the worker’s name will be added to a “stability list”. This will prevent the company from reducing its regular workforce in favour of sub-contractors. If production is lower, they will have to get rid of the sub-contractors before laying any employees off,” said Alain Croteau.
 
Along the same lines, the thirty or so miners working at the Firelake site will now be covered by the same collective agreement as that struck for the approximately 2,000 workers at Port-Cartier and Fermont.

Daniel Roy, Quebec director for the USW/Syndicat des Métallos, welcomed the new contract. This employment contract reflects the mining boom currently underway in Côte-Nord and Quebec’s regions. It’s also the product of difficult negotiations, during which the committee showed determination and solidarity. I invite non-unionized mine workers to take a look at what we have accomplished at ArcelorMittal Mines. Sticking together and working as a group can produce tangible results, he declared, pointing out that the USW/Syndicat des Métallos represents the vast majority of mine workers in Quebec.

The USW/Syndicat des Métallos represents close to 2,000 workers employed by ArcelorMittal Mines Canada, represented by four distinct Locals at Port-Cartier and Fermont. This union, an FTQ affiliate, is Quebec’s largest private-sector union. Its members – numbering more than 60,000 – work in all sectors of the economy (mines, metallurgy, industrial manufacturing, the hotel and restaurant business, security, trucking, taxis, etc.).

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For more information:
Alain Croteau, 418 962-2041, USW/Syndicat des Métallos regional coordinator – Côte-Nord
Clairandrée Cauchy, 514 774-4001, Head of communications