The Thompson Citizen, which was established in June 1960, covers the City of Thompson and Nickel Belt Region of Northern Manitoba. The city has a population of about 13,500 residents while the regional population is more than 40,000. editor@thompsoncitizen.net
Ratifcation vote Sept. 15
USW Local 6166 and Vale’s Manitoba Operations have reached a tentative agreement three days before the current three-year collective is due to expire Sept. 15, says Ryan Land, manager of corporate affairs for Vale’s Manitoba Operations, and Murray Nychyporuk, president of USW Local 6166, in a joint press release issued Monday.
The USW will be holding two meetings today with its members to present the offer and “express its unanimous support of the proposed Offer of Settlement,” says Nychyporuk and Land.
Members will have two days to review and consider the offer. The ratification vote will take place Thursday, Sept. 15, beginning at 8:30 a.m.
If ratified the deal in Thompson will break a pattern of two long and bitter labour disputes, both now resolved, in Sudbury and Voisey’s Bay. After almost a year on the picket line between July 2009 and July 2010, striking Steelworkers at Local 6500 in Sudbury and Local 6200 in Port Colborne, Ont. voted about 75 per cent to ratify a five-year deal with Vale, four days short of a year of going on strike.