Vale

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

A Vale official says the company will “move forward” with arbitration in the case of eight fired production and maintenance workers, as directed by the Ontario Labour Relations Board last week.

A Vale spokeswoman, Angie Robson, says the company has taken United Steelworkers’ request for a month of mediation before arbitration “under advisement.” The labour board ruled the fate of eight Steelworkers fired during the union’s yearlong strike against Vale should be decided by just cause arbitration.

Vale had insisted for two years it had the right to fire the eight for bad behaviour on picket lines and in the community. John Pollesel, chief operating officer for Vale, wrote a letter to USW Local 6500 members this week saying the company acknowledged the labour board’s decision and would agree to arbitration.

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The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Labour Minister Linda Jeffrey appreciates the work United Steelworkers has done to uncover the causes of an accident at Vale’s Stobie Mine last year that took the lives of supervisor Jason Chenier, 35, and miner Jordan Fram, 26.

But she won’t be able to comment on the report’s three top recommendations — two of which pertain to her ministry — until the ministry completes its investigation into the June 8, 2011, fatality.

USW has called for the Government of Ontario to establish a public inquiry into the causes of the Stobie deaths, with special attention to water management, monitoring and enforcement issues.

Chenier and Fram died when they were overcome by a run of muck from the No. 7 ore pass while working at the 3,000-foot level of the 111- year-old mine. The union believes excess water contributed to treacherous working conditions, as well as clogged drainage holes and other factors.

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The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

For the full report: Run of “Wet Muck” Double Fatality Investigation Report by USW Local 6500

Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci says it may be premature to call for a public inquiry into the deaths of two Sudbury miners before the Ministry of Labour completes its investigation of the fatality and a mandatory coroner’s inquest is held.

Bartolucci said he is looking forward to reading the USW report and its recommendations. “Listen, just like Vale’s recommendations, I want to read and study the Steelworkers’ recommendations.

“At the end of the day, we don’t want anybody dying” at work, said Bartolucci. “Two families lost loved ones. That’s serious. And we have to do what we have to do to ensure we take every possible precaution to ensure that that doesn’t happen again.”

Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram were killed June 8, 2011, by a run of muck at Vale’s Stobie Mine.

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The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

For the full report: Run of “Wet Muck” Double Fatality Investigation Report by USW Local 6500

There has been a lot of talk about Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram since they were killed on the job June 8, 2011, at Stobie Mine. Wednesday morning, Mike Bond wasn’t talking about the men. He was speaking for them and their families.

Bond, the Health, Safety and Environment chair for United Steelworkers Local 6500, local president Rick Bertrand and USW lawyer Brian Shell presented findings of the union’s investigation into the men’s deaths to reporters.

“Today’s the day we’re speaking for the Frams and the Cheniers, and miners across the province. It’s a tragic day also,” said Bond, a former Creighton miner.

“I feel that, with our recommendations, we are going to make (mining) safer.” Bond has been involved in several investigations, but never one like this. “This is a one-of-a-kind report,” he said.

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The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

For the full report: Run of “Wet Muck” Double Fatality Investigation Report by USW Local 6500

United Steelworkers is calling on the province to take “swift action” on three key recommendations in the union’s eight-month, 200page report on their investigation into the mining deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram.

Wednesday, the union released its findings — 165 recommendations in all — relating to the June 8, 2011, deaths of Chenier and Fram at Vale Ltd.’s Stobie Mine.

The union presented a scathing report to reporters at news conferences in Sudbury at the Steelworkers Hall and in Toronto at Queen’s Park.

The union is calling on the assistant deputy attorney general to take immediate steps to determine whether criminal charges should be laid against Vale and some of its employees under the Westray provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada.

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29 February 2012

For the full report: Run of “Wet Muck” Double Fatality Investigation Report by USW Local 6500

Double Fatality at Vale’s Mine in Sudbury Could Have Been Avoided: Steelworkers’ Investigation Report Finds

Province Should Consider Criminal Charges

Sudbury/Toronto – Based on the results of a damning investigative report into a double fatality at Stobie Mine in Sudbury, the United Steelworkers (USW) is calling on the Ontario Government to consider laying criminal charges against officials and management of Vale, the mine’s owner, and against the company itself. The Union says the government must also immediately establish a Commission of Inquiry into Mine Safety.

USW Local 6500 in Sudbury today released the results of an eight-month investigation into the deaths Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram on June 8th, 2011. The two miners died after a torrent of wet mud and ore flooded the tunnel where they were working.

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For Immediate Release

SUDBURY, February 29, 2012 – Vale today released the following statement from Kelly Strong, Vice President, Mining & Milling (North Atlantic Operations) and General Manager, Ontario Operations, regarding the United Steelworkers Local 6500 investigation report into the deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram in June 2011:

“We received the union’s investigation report this morning and are in the process of reviewing it very carefully.

The USW document contains serious allegations, and calls for the government to consider laying criminal charges against the Company and individuals. As a result of this, we are not able to discuss the specific allegations contained in the report.

While a detailed review is ongoing, our preliminary reading of the report indicates that there is no new factual information that our investigation team had not considered. There is, however, a distinct difference with how the USW has chosen to interpret and draw conclusions from those facts. 

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The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

Jason Chenier spent his last days in early June as a supervisor at Vale’s Stobie Mine alerting management about the safety hazards related to excess water and other factors underground.

Chenier, 35, erected double guardrails at two levels of the mine to act as “shutdown signals” that the areas were unsafe.

The guardrails were removed under management’s direction and re-installed as many as three times in the next two days.

He e-mailed management with concerns about excess water in areas where employees were working.

On June 7, 2011, he e-mailed Vale management advising it “should not be dumping ore or blasting this ore until the water situation is under control.”

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The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

LABOUR RELATIONS: Board decision favours union

Vale is still not commenting on the decision Friday by the Ontario Labour Relations Board to direct the matter of eight discharged employees to just cause arbitration.

Vale spokeswoman Angie Robson said Monday at 4 p.m. she had nothing to add to a statement issued Saturday at The Sudbury Star’s request.

Robson said then that Vale is continuing to “review and assess the decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board. “The OLRB has made no ruling on the correctness or legitimacy of the discharges,” said Robson.

The purpose of the hearings into United Steelworkers unfair bargaining complaint against Vale was not to determine if the firing of eight Steelworkers during their year-long strike against the mining company were justified.

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The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The decision by the Ontario Labour Relations Board to directly send the discharges of eight Steelworkers to arbitration is one of the most far-reaching made by the board in a decade, said United Steelworkers lawyer Brian Shell.

The board ruled in favour of the union Friday and is directing Vale to enter into arbitration to decide the fate of eight men fired during United Steelworkers’ bitter year-long strike against Vale.

Shell said the decision goes to the core of collective bargaining, “the core of the right to strike and to the core of the dig-n ity unionized workers are entitled to by joining a union, by having a bargaining agent and by having that bargaining agent do collective bargaining for them.

“It goes right to the heart of the entire system of labour relations,” Shell said. Vale has had little to say about Friday’s decision other than to release this statement Saturday afternoon that its team continues to “review and assess” the board’s 29-page decision.

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Media release

Labour Board Ruling Vindicates Steelworkers In Case of Fired Employees
SUDBURY, 24 February, 2012 – Mining giant Vale engaged in “patently unreasonable” conduct and violated provincial labour law by firing nine Sudbury workers without recourse to arbitration, the Ontario Labour Relations Board has ruled.

“This ruling is another concrete example of Vale’s blatant disregard for workers’ rights, for our laws and for our country’s labour relations traditions and culture,” said United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard.

“This is a major victory for our union, for the working families who have been adversely affected by Vale’s unlawful conduct, and for unionized workers throughout the province,” said USW Local 6500 President Rick Bertrand.

“It is shameful that the affected families have suffered in limbo for more than two years due to Vale’s illegal decision to deny workers their right to independent arbitration,” Bertrand said.

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