Union backs dismissed Frood workers

The eight Inco Ltd. miners who were dismissed from the company’s Frood mine in Sudbury, Ont., for engaging in dangerous mining practices will not face charges under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act.

But a spokesman for Local 6,500 of the United Steel Workers Union said the union will attempt to have the miners reinstated in their former positions.

In early October, Inco fired the miners after they were found taking short cuts while installing rock bolts at the operation’s 304-m and 335-m levels.

But union President David Campbell says Inco has acted too severely in dismissing them. “A disciplinary system is usually implemented as a corrective measure,” said Campbell.

“When you take into consideration the amount of service that these men had, a dismissal is like handing them a life sentence.”

When officials from Inco and union representatives meet in the new year, Campbell said he will look for reinstatment on that basis.

“Some of those guys had more than 27 years of service behind them,” said Campbell.

After an Inco work crew discovered that bolts at the 300-m level which were supposed to be 1.8-m long were less than 1 m, a controversial bonus system which rewards employees for working quickly was blamed for the incident.

However, Inco spokesman Sid Forster said a mine-wide investigation, including a time study, has determined that any perceived financial gains to be made from short bolting were negligible.

“We can only speculate that there was a perception in the minds of the eight miners that they were gaining by this practice,” said Forster. While Forster says Inco is now much more geared to guard against short bolting, he doesn’t expect any more disciplinary measures or changes in procedure as a result of the October incident.