With more than 500 workers walking the picket lines at its Horne copper smelter in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Noranda (NRD-T) has announced that employees at its wholly owned Noranda Aluminum primary products division, have voted 63% in favour of a new five-year collective agreement.
The new deal takes effect on Sept. 1, a day after the current contract runs out. It includes wage increases in each of the years, improved pension benefits, plus some changes in health care benefits.
Noranda’s aluminum complex, situated on the western bank of the Mississippi River, 8 km south of New Madrid, Missouri, produces 250,000 tonnes of primary aluminum products annually. The operation is staffed by 1,100 workers, of which 862 are represented by the United Steel Workers of America, Local 7686.
On June 18, about 510 employees at the company’s Horne smelter walked off the job to force action on contract demands concerning subcontracting. Noranda has since declared force majeure on receipt of copper concentrate from other companies.
The company says it is waiting to hear from the union, while the union told Reuters, “They will wait for a while,” adding it was up to the company to come up with a new offer.
The employees contract at Horne expired in February.
The operations last suffered a three-month-long strike in 1986.
The smelter is currently being run by about 130 employees at well below half of its normal capacity.
In 2001, the smelter produced 188,000 tonnes of copper.
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