Inco CEO Predicts Short-lived Strike

The Sault Star, 10 July 2009 

By Carol Mulligan

The president and chief executive officer of Vale Inco, Tito Martins, says there will be a strike at the company's Ontario operations, but it won't last long.

That's hardly reassuring to Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle, who said Martins made the admission to him when the New Democrat politician phoned him Thursday. The prediction that more than 3,300 production and maintenance workers in Sudbury and Port Colborne will set up picket lines Sunday at midnight when their collective agreement expires was startling to Gravelle.

"Last week, (Martins) said there wasn't going to be a strike because he was very positive," said Gravelle, about a meeting he and fellow New Democrat, Sudbury MP Glenn Thibeault, had with the head of the nickel company.

The three talked about Vale Inco's bright future in Sudbury. A week later, Martins was fending off criticism. Gravelle called Martins to ask him to explain comments made to reporters by Vale CEO Roger Agnelli about the company's Sudbury operations being "unsustainable."

Three months of talks also broke down between Vale Inco and United Steelworkers Local 6500 in Sudbury and 6200 in Port Colborne.

When word came Thursday morning that 54 staff at Sudbury operations were being axed as part of company-wide restructuring, the New Democrats' mine critic called Martins. The newsletter also told employees how Vale Inco is restructuring its Canada-United Kingdom operations.

The company will be run by three vice-presidents, all of whom will be based in Sudbury, rather than by operation heads in Manitoba, Newfoundland and Sudbury. "Sudbury is our largest operating community and it will be the hub of Canadian-UK operations," said McPhee, adding he sees this part of the restructuring as good news for Sudbury.

Effective July 13, three men familiar to Sudburians will assume new roles.

Mike MacFarlane will become vice-president of mining and milling across Canada and the UK. MacFarlane is based in Sudbury as vice-president of mines for Ontario operations. Steve Wood, a Sudbury native who recently worked with PT Inco in Indonesia, will become the vice-president of smelting and refining. John Pollesel, who was named interim head of Ontario operations after Fred Stanford left Vale Inco, will become vice-president of production services and support for Canada and the UK.

Pollesel will be in charge of "everything that supports the production process" such as divisional shops, engineering, energy management and the power department, said McPhee. He will continue with general management responsibilities for Ontario operations.

By appointing the three vice-presidents, the company is "looking at the entire picture and leveraging the availability of assets, the knowledge and expertise that resides across the operations, the movement of materials--just looking at how we can best maximize all the assets at our disposal without worrying about geographic location," said McPhee.

He said "silos" have been created over the years because one program or policy might have been in place in one operation and not in another. The layoffs were announced as United Steelworkers Local 6500 members were preparing to vote on Vale Inco's settlement proposal, which the union's negotiating team has recommended members reject.

If they vote against the contract offer, they will likely take to the picket line Monday at 12:01 a. m., after their extended contract expires Sunday at midnight.