Production and maintenance employees at Falconbridge’s Kidd Creek metallurgical copper-zinc operation in Timmins, Ont., have ratified a 3-year labour pact.
The deal includes a wage increase of about $2 per hour over the contract term, plus a signing bonus of $2,000. Falco’s management says the cash bonuses are equivalent to the cost of shutting down the facility had a strike occurred.
Eighty-nine per cent of the 674 employees represented by the Canadian Auto Workers local 599 approved the deal during a day-long vote in late September. It took effect Oct. 1.
During the three months ended June 30, the Kidd Creek division suffered an operating loss of $18 million. The mine and metallurgical plant produced 11,152 tonnes of copper cathode, 26,858 tonnes zinc and 774,000 oz. silver.
The loss is attributed to a 15% reduction in realized zinc prices and fewer custom-feed contracts.
Falco’s second-quarter earnings amounted to $41 million (or 21 per fully diluted share) on revenue of $634 million, compared with nearly $56 million (30 per share) on $570 million in the corresponding period of 2001. The year-ago period included $20-million tax benefit from an adjustment to future tax rates in Ontario.
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