TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The world's second-biggest mining company, Vale SA, has concluded labour negotiations with its Brazilian unions, but remains at odds with workers at its Sudbury, Port Colborne and Voisey's Bay operations, in Canada.

In Brazil, a deal was reached with 14 labour unions, representing 40 000 Vale employees in Brazil, and was “overwhelmingly” accepted by 87% of the membership, the company said.

Cory McPhee, the Toronto-based vice-president of corporate affairs for Vale's nickel unit, Vale Inco, said that the agreement was an indication of the good relationship between the company and its Brazilian workers.

“In Brazil, the practice of companies and unions has been to sign one-year collective agreements negotiated annually,” McPhee said.

“The fact we were able to achieve a two-year agreement with an unprecedented level of acceptance speaks well to the confidence employees have in the future direction of the company.”

Two key areas of dispute with the Canadian workers are pension structures and nickel-price-based bonuses.

The Brazilian workers “continue to have a defined contribution pension fund plan and a performance-based bonus system,” McPhee said.

But the United Steelworkers union, which represents the 3 500-odd Vale Inco workers on strike in Canada, said that the four-month work stoppage would be over if Vale “abandoned unwarranted and mean-spirited demands for concessions in Canada”.

The USW congratulated Brazilian workers for “negotiating collective agreements with Vale SA that provide significant improvements and avoid major concessions”.

Vale Inco workers in Sudbury and Port Colborne started a strike on July 13, although the operations were already halted at the time for an extended maintenance shutdown, because of weak nickel markets.

Vale has since restarted some mining and milling operations using nonstriking workers.

In a statement late on Monday, USW national director for Canada Ken Neumann also criticised the country's government for failing to intervene in the dispute and for refusing to divulge details of the agreement it signed with Vale in 2007, when the Brazilian firm acquired Canadian miner Inco.

"Vale workers in Brazil also have an important ally in their government, particularly Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva," Neumann said.

"Unfortunately, Canadians don't have the same kind of support from their government.”

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