TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – United Steelworkers (USW) members in Sudbury and Port Colborne, in Ontario, have approved a five-year collective agreement with mining giant Vale.

The union late on Friday announced that the new contract had been ratified by 76.7% of USW Local 6500 members, in Sudbury, and 87% of USW Local 6200 members, in Port Colborne.

The turnout was high for the ratification votes, with 89% of Local 6500 members voting and 91% of Local 6200 members voting.

The union said it had held ratification voting over two days last week, after USW and Vale negotiators reached a tentative agreement earlier in the week.

The parties had reached a new collective agreement one month before the exiting contract was due to expire on May 31.

The union and Vale had agreed on the current contract in 2010, following a year-long strike provoked by Vale's demands for unprecedented concessions.

The new five-year contract, which ran until 2020, included significant improvements in numerous areas, USW advised.

Among these were improved wages across the board each year, as well as cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) added to each year's wage increase. Based on expected inflation of 2% a year, COLA was expected to generate added wage increases of 44c an hour each year, or $2.20 an hour over the life of the five-year agreement.

Each union member also received a $4 500 signing bonus.

The new contract also called for substantial increases in contributions to employees' pension plans. By the end of the collective agreement, the basic pension for a 30-year employee would be $3 750 a month.

Benefit improvements would see increased vision care coverage and increased payments for sickness and accident coverage.

The agreement also featured significant improvements to contract language, including enhanced provisions affecting the grievance procedure, seniority recognition, contracting out and job postings.