Enough is enough. And we’ve had enough. Enough misrepresentation of Vale’s bargaining positions.
We don’t understand why USW officials said in the last two days that Vale tried to change the deals that were reached on Tuesday, June 22 after a marathon bargaining session.
Here’s what really happened. We reached unconditional agreements for settlement for both Sudbury and Port Colborne around 8:00 a.m. on June 22 and a majority of both union bargaining committees said it would recommend these deals. We were preparing the memorandums for signature, when we were told by mediator Kevin Burkett that there was a “problem”.
Mr. Burkett told us that the USW needed us to say that the settlements would not be raised by the company to prevent the union from proceeding with its labour board case in connection with the nine discharged employees. We said yes, we would not make the fact of the settlements a barrier. In the week following the settlements, throughout discussions between company and union legal representatives, we have not changed our position on this issue.
It’s time to stop the misrepresentation, conclude the deals and get our employees back to work.