Sudbury, Ontario: Home of the Big Nickel, education capital of the north, mining town, working class town. Sudbury has different associations for different people. This past year, however, Sudbury is becoming more widely known because of labour unrest. On 19th September 2008 a fire completely devastated Sudbury’s Steelworker hall, burning it to the ground. Looking back now, this event was a foreshadowing of a fiery year ahead for the residents of Greater Sudbury.
Before looking at the current state of labour in Sudbury, it is important to have a brief look back at the city’s labour history. First a small lumber camp and later gaining prominence as a mining centre after rich ore deposits were discovered, Sudbury was officially incorporated as a city in 1930. Sudbury’s union history is almost as old as the city itself, with the first miners becoming unionized in April of 1944 with the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, Local 598, despite thugs being sent in by the bosses to deter union organizers. This period proved to be a time of significant Left influence in the labour movement.
Tensions between the employer and unionized workers in Sudbury intensified further when the workers of USW Local 6500 engaged in a wildcat strike in 1966, with management personnel flying overhead in helicopters being shot out of the sky. The OPP was eventually called in to put an end to the wildcat strike.
With mining being the city’s largest resource, Inco became the city’s largest employer by the 1970s. A strike at Inco mines in 1978 that lasted ten and a half months had a devastating effect on the city’s economy. This strike resulted in a major gain for Inco employees, although they would not see the fruits of this labour for 20+ years — any employee who worked for 30 years could, regardless of age, retire with a full pension plan.
Inco and Falconbridge changed ownership in 2006, becoming Vale Inco and Xstrata respectively. Foreign takeovers were allowed by the Minister of Industry, with the promise that Sudbury jobs would be protected for at least three years.
Looking now to this past year in Sudbury, both Xstrata and Vale Inco failed to keep their end of the bargain. On 9th February, 686 workers at Xstrata Nickel were laid off. Outrage ensued, which was only increased with the announcement from Vale Inco less than one month later that they would be cutting 261 jobs in Sudbury. These layoffs have only added to an already high unemployment rate in Sudbury. According to Statistics Canada, Sudbury’s unemployment rate has jumped from 5.6% in August of 2008 to 10.5% in August of 2009, almost doubling.
The layoffs from both mining corporations resulted in a major hit to the Sudbury community, intensifying when Vale Inco miners from United Steelworkers local 6500 rejected their employer’s concessionary offer. At a 11th July, 2009 ratification vote, 2600 of the local’s 3250 members voted on the employer’s offer, with 85% of the membership choosing to reject cutbacks related to the nickel bonus and the pension plan — the same pension plan that was fought for in the strike of 1978.
Since workers walked off the job on 12th July at midnight, Vale Inco has refused to meet employees with a fair offer that is not concessionary. In August, Vale Inco announced that they would partially resume production at Sudbury sites, training selected employees to serve as scabs. Frustrations have increased as Vale Inco seems to be more concerned with returning to business as usual rather than making a concerted effort to negotiate a fair contract.
As with any labour dispute, sentiments in the community have not been entirely supportive of the striking workers. There are certain stereotypes that paint miners as undereducated and overpaid as it is, so making concessionary cuts to the contract should not be an issue. As is too often the case, non-unionized sectors of the working class are told that the unionized workers are greedy. This serves a purpose of dividing the working class.
On the other side, a larger part of the community seems to have rallied behind the striking workers, which was made apparent at the city’s Labour Day parade. This year’s parade saw the largest turnout in ten years. Representatives from unions across the city, as well as general supporters of labour in Sudbury, joined together in solidarity to stand up against the hit that labour has taken over the past year.
Support for the striking workers of USW Local 6500 has spread beyond the Sudbury community, reaching as far as Mexico, Switzerland, and Brazil. On 19th September a solidarity rally was held at the city’s arena, with thousands coming out to show their support. Even the progressive filmmaker Michael Moore brought striking workers to the showing of his Capitalism: A Love Story at the Toronto International Film Festival, and held a special screening for striking workers at Sudbury’s Cinefest.
The labour issue in Sudbury has received international attention because it has the possibility of setting precedent. Brazilian-based Vale is the world’s second largest mining company. If they are successful in getting workers to agree to a concessionary deal, then other miners – and likely workers in other sectors – in all parts of the world will be open to attack. However, if the Sudbury workers beat back this assault it will be a victory for workers in Ontario, Canada, and around the world.
