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American filmmaker Michael Moore’s website: ‘Your search did not match any documents’ [Vale Job Cutbacks in Thompson, Manitoba]

This article was originally published in the Thompson Citizen which was established in June 1960. The Citizen 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.

February 4, 2011 – by John Barker
editor@thompsoncitizen.net

Video or blog entries related to Vale, Thompson and USW

It’s all the buzz. Churchill riding NDP MP Niki Ashton said Feb. 1 that “award-winning documentarian Michael Moore agreed to a request” by her to “help share her message about the devastating decision by Vale to close the Vale smelter and refinery in Thompson.”

Said Ashton: “Moore’s team expressed great interest in Vale’s decision and the devastating impact it would have on Ashton’s home community of Thompson. Moore’s team plans to post Ashton’s YouTube video on his website as well as post a series of blog entries by Ashton and the people who are losing their jobs … Moore and his team pointed to the parallels between the Thompson story and the story of Flint, Michigan as told in Moore’s film Roger and Me.”

Ashton went on to say Tuesday, “The story of Thompson parallels what the people of Flint, Michigan faced. Our community is the latest victim. Our goal was to get our message spread globally. We are fighting back. We are happy to have Michael Moore help us get our message to the world.”

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NEWS RELEASE: [Manitoba MP] Ashton gets a hand from Michael Moore for Thompson [Job Cutbacks]

Niki Ashton, is the New Democratic Member of Parliament for the electoral district of Churchill in Manitoba, Canada. She was first elected in the 2008 federal election. A resident of Thompson, Manitoba, she is the daughter of Manitoba provincial NDP cabinet minister Steve Ashton. (Wiki)

Renowned filmmaker to spread the community’s message

Tue 1 Feb 2011

OTTAWA–Award-winning documentarian Michael Moore agreed to a request by New Democrat MP Niki Ashton (Churchill) to help share her message about the devastating decision by Vale to close the Vale smelter and refinery in Thompson, MB.

Moore’s team expressed great interest in Vale’s decision and the devastating impact it would have on Ashton’s home community of Thompson. Moore’s team plans to post Ashton’s YouTube video on his website as well as post a series of blog entries by Ashton and the people who are losing their jobs.

“Our message is that this is about our jobs and our community,” said Ashton. “It is time our government stopped supporting profitable corporations like Vale, and started standing up for us.”

Vale, A Brazilian company, bought out Inco in a foreign takeover that was approved by Canada’s federal government in 2007. In the fall of 2010 Vale also received a $1Billion loan from Canada’s federal government. Despite promises to increase employment, Vale announced the closure of the smelter and refinery, eliminating all the value added mining jobs in Thompson by 2015.

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NEWS RELEASE (United Steelworkers): Voisey’s Bay Workers Ratify Five-Year Agreement

31 January 2011-Goose Bay, NL: Unionized workers at the Voisey’s Bay nickel mine in Labrador have ratified a five-year collective agreement, ending a bitter, 18-month strike against Brazilian mining giant Vale.

Members of United Steelworkers Local 9508 voted 88% in favour of a tentative deal reached by their negotiating team and Vale representatives. Vote results were released today, following balloting in a number of communities over the last several days.

“Our members are returning to work with their heads held high,” said Steelworkers staff representative Boyd Bussey. “They stood up for their families and their communities and fought for what they believed in.”

“This labour dispute was unnecessarily provoked and prolonged by a giant multinational corporation,” said Wayne Fraser, Steelworkers District Director for Atlantic Canada and Ontario.

“Our members deserve to be proud for standing up to this foreign corporation and for finally achieving a fair deal,” Fraser said.

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NEWS RELEASE: Vale announces ratification of new collective agreement with mine and mill operations employees in Voisey’s Bay

January 31, 2011 – Vale is pleased to announce that a new five-year collective agreement has been ratified by the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9508 representing mine and mill operations employees at Voisey’s Bay, Labrador. The settlement marks the end of the strike that began August 1, 2009.

Highlights of the new five-year agreement include improvements to employee wages and the Defined Contribution Pension Plan, a cost-of-living allowance roll-in and changes to the employee bonus program. The agreement also includes a special $2000 Return to Work payment and an additional $2000 Retention Bonus payable three months following ratification of the new Collective Agreement.

“We are very pleased that our mine and mill operations employees have ratified the new Collective Agreement and we look forward to their return to work and the resumption of normal operations,” said Tom Paddon, General Manager of Vale’s operations in Newfoundland and Labrador. “It has been a very long and challenging time for everyone involved and we are pleased that that the strike is finally behind us,” Paddon said.

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[Manitoba Government] Asleep at the Wheel [Vale Thompson Job Cutbacks] – Winnipeg Free Press Editorial (November 20, 2010)

The Winnipeg Free Press is the oldest newspaper in western Canada and has the largest readership in the province of Manitoba.

It appears that a better expenditure of the $1 billion is the one Vale
plans — to sink it into new mining operations that will at least protect
1,000 of the 1,500 jobs Vale currently supplies. (Winnipeg Free Press Editorial)

Mines Minister Dave Chomiak is heading to Toronto on Monday to talk to Vale SA officials about the mining giant’s plan to wind down smelting and refining activities in Thompson over five years, moves that will cost the city 500 jobs. The trip will be a continuation of the frantic to-ing and fro-ing that Mr. Chomiak and Premier Greg Selinger have been engaged in since news broke Wednesday that Manitoba’s third largest city was going to take a very hard economic hit.

It might be that the hand-wringing and dashing-about is simply what politicians always do in the face of bad news — they must be seen to be “doing something,” no matter how ineffectual. Or it might be what it seems to be, that the government was caught completely off guard by the news. And that raises the question that Opposition Leader Hugh McFadyen has raised: Has the government been asleep at the wheel?

It was, after all, only seven years ago that Inco Ltd., which was subsequently bought by Vale for $20 billion, threatened to shut down all operations in Thompson because the price of nickel had fallen so low that the Thompson operations were no longer viable. So it might have been expected that the government was keeping a close eye on Thompson, which has long been represented by Steve Ashton.

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Done Deal: Vale Stands Firm as 500 Thompson, Manitoba Smelter and Refinery Jobs Disappear by 2015 – by Ryan Flanagan

This article was originally published in the Thompson Citizen which was established in June 1960. The Citizen 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.

Martins asks for Thompson to start looking to the future

January 27, 2011 – by Ryan Flanagan
news@thompsoncitizen.net

Tito Martins, president and chief executive officer of Vale Canada, was in Thompson Wednesday night to address the Thompson Chamber of Commerce annual general meeting, where he delivered a blunt message about Vale’s plans for Thompson’s smelter and refinery.

“The past has passed, it’s time to move on,” he said. “Let’s talk about the future. Let’s move on to find something else to be the important pillar of the Thompson economy.”

Although many – including provincial officials such as Dave Chomiak, minister of innovation, energy and mines, and Thompson MLA Steve Ashton – have been holding out hope that a deal could be negotiated to save the processing facilties, Martins was dismissive of that possibility.

“We don’t see any possibilities to actually change our decision, unless something really new comes up,” said Martins. “It was the obvious decision. The picture we have in front of us today doesn’t show us any alternative.” Martins did note that Vale is “obligated” to look at any proposals that might be sent their way, but added that a relaxing of environmental restrictions – the federal standards for sulphur dioxide, or SO2, emissions would require a reduction of 88 per cent from the current Thompson levels – would still not give them enough reason to leave the smelter and refinery open, as the opening of the Long Harbour refinery in 2013 will see feed from Voisey’s Bay sent there rather than Thompson, putting the feed levels at Thompson’s smelter and refinery well below the line of profitability. “Of all the scenarios we ran, there were some where we looking at bringing feed to Thompson,” said Martins. “There’s none available anywhere.”

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Fate of Vale, Petrobras CEOs [Roger Agnelli, Jose Sergio Gabrielli] Hinges on [Brazil] Politics – by Brian Ellsworth and Guillermo Parra-Bernal

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper. This article was originally published in the Financial Post on January 25, 2011.

Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva harshly criticized Agnelli for slashing
investment and firing 2,000 workers after the 2008 financial crisis. Vale raised
capital spending again following heavy government pressure.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Markets dictate that corporate managers who create the most value for shareholders keep their jobs. But for Brazil’s two biggest companies, state-controlled oil firm Petrobras and mining giant Vale, the reality may shape up to be exactly the opposite.

Roger Agnelli, who over a decade helped transform Vale into the world’s leading iron ore producer, is under fire for not creating enough jobs in Brazil and rumors are swirling that President Dilma Rousseff could lobby for his ouster.

In contrast, Jose Sergio Gabrielli may stay on as Petrobras CEO despite a US$38-billion tumble in market value last year sparked by a plan that boosted government control over the company despite complaints from private shareholders.

Although Brazil is still a hot destination for emerging market investments, the apparently diverging fate of the two chief executives is a reminder that political interference is still a risk in Latin America’s largest economy.

As Brazil flexes its economic muscles and boosts its global influence, investors fear its companies could be vulnerable to government pressure to lead economic development efforts at the expense of private shareholders.

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Sudbury Calls the Shots, Says [Vale’s] John Pollesel – by Carol Mulligan

Carol Mulligan is a reporter for the Sudbury Star, the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper. cmulligan@thesudburystar.com

“As a matter of fact, in the North Atlantic, we are the centre of excellence for
underground mining globally for Vale. Vale’s operations are mostly open pit,
big iron ore mines. However, if we’re to develop a deposit in Africa … they will
come to us for mining expertise.” (Vale’s John Pollesel January 20, 2011)

The head of Vale’s North Atlantic operations isn’t putting much stock in rumours that Roger Agnelli could be on his way out as chief executive of Vale’s parent company in Brazil.
John Pollesel, chief operating officer for Vale in Canada and the UK , said a report that a majority shareholder in Vale is trying to replace Agnelli is unfounded.

When asked if things might change in Sudbury if Agnelli were replaced, Pollesel said: “Sudbury directly may not feel the effects of something like that, but that’s just a rumour. There’s no, in speaking to (Vale CEO) Tito (Martins) earlier this week, he explained to us that … that’s just a rumour.”

Another frequent comment that is untrue is that Vale operations in Canada are being run out of Brazil, Pollesel told The Sudbury Star in an editorial board meeting this week.

“We hear often, and I get a little frustrated when I hear this, that things are being run out of Brazil. Well, no, that’s not the case,” said Pollesel.

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Vale Inco saved Sudbury from becoming Valley of Death: Clement – by Carol Mulligan (July 18, 2009)

Carol Mulligan is a reporter for the Sudbury Star, the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

“There was going to be no buyer, there were going to be no jobs, there weren’t going to be any capital investments, there was going to be no employer. That was the Valley of Death that Sudbury faced.”  Tony Clement (July 18, 2009)


Sudbury is better off now than it was two and a half years ago when Vale Inco Ltd. bought the former Inco Ltd., says Canada’s Industry minister.

If the Brazilian-owned Companhia Vale do Rio Doce hadn’t bought it, Inco would “not exist, it would have been closed down, it would have been liquidated if there wasn’t a buyer,” said Tony Clement in a telephone interview late Friday afternoon.

“There was going to be no buyer, there were going to be no jobs, there weren’t going to be any capital investments, there was going to be no employer,” said Clement. “That was the Valley of Death that Sudbury faced.”

Clement was responding to charges by United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard that the federal government should have forced Vale Inco to live up to commitments made when it purchased Inco.

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Clement’s Takeover Hangover [Vale, Inco, Sudbury]-by Andy Hoffman and Jacquie McNish (July 22, 2009)

The Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous impact and influence on Canada’s political and business elite as well as the rest of the country’s print, radio and television media. Originally published July 22, 2009

“There was going to be no buyer, [for Inco] there were going to be no jobs, [Sudbury] there weren’t going to be any capital investments, there was going to be no employer.” — Industry Minister Tony Clement

“He’s either sadly misinformed or he’s ignoring the facts because back in 2006 we were a very successful company. There were lots of companies trying to buy us, not just [Vale].”— Scott Hand, Inco’s former CEO

The wave of foreign takeovers that cut a swath through Canada’s resource sector in 2006 and 2007 has become a critical problem for Industry Minister Tony Clement as the new owners break their acquisition promises not to slash jobs and production.

Mr. Clement is under fire for ill-informed comments regarding the sale of nickel producer Inco to a Brazilian mining giant, and for taking an inconsistent approach to enforcing the commitments the foreign companies made in order to win Ottawa’s consent for the controversial deals.

Last week, the government took the extraordinary step of going to court to demand United States Steel Corp. meet job and production pledges that were part of its acquisition of Stelco Inc. in 2007. The move, a first in Canada, has shocked industry and legal observers who say that Industry Canada has been much more flexible with other foreign buyers.

But Mr. Clement then portrayed Inco’s acquirer, Brazil’s Vale SA, as a local saviour – even though Vale, too, is cutting jobs earlier than promised, closing operations and grappling with a strike. Mr. Clement said Sudbury, the site of Inco’s flagship nickel operations, would have become a “Valley of Death” if the Brazilians hadn’t bought the company for $19-billion.

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Analysis of Vale’s $10 Billion Canadian Investment – Liezel Hill (Mining Weekly North American Deputy Editor)

Mining Weekly is South Africa’s premier source of weekly news on mining developments in Africa’s most important industry. Mining Weekly provides in-depth coverage of mining projects and the personalities reshaping the mining industry. In order to advance Mining Weekly’s objective of positioning itself as a leading global provider of mining news, a full-time correspondent is based …

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Vale Closure Announcement Unacceptable – Steve Ashton (Thompsom, Manitoba MLA)

Steve Ashton was first elected to the Manitoba Legislature in 1981 for the New Democrat Party (NDP). He was re-elected in the general elections of 1986, 1988, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2007. In October 2009, he was appointed as Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation, Minister Responsible for Emergency Measures and Minister Responsible for the Manitoba Lotteries Corporation. His daughter, Niki Ashton, is also a politician and is the New Democratic Party MP for the riding of Churchill.

Vale’s announcement that they are eliminating the surface operation here in Thompson is unacceptable.

Since the 1950’s Thompson has had a fully integrated mining operation.  The development of the refinery and smelter were integral parts of the 1956 agreement that established Thompson.

In good times and in bad times our community and our province have always been there to work with Inco, now Vale. In the process we have developed one of the best mining, smelting and refining operations in the world.

Vale’s announced shut down of the surface operations in Thompson came without any discussion about solutions with key stakeholders or the provincial government. I have never seen a more arrogant and insensitive move.

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United Steelworkers News Release – Vale Announcement Long on Propaganda, Short on Investment

RELEASE, 17 November, 2010

Vale’s latest “investment” announcement continues a public-relations campaign more concerned about image than providing net benefits to Canadian communities.

“Vale’s announcement today is perhaps the most cynical public relations exercise we have seen yet from this foreign corporation,” said Ken Neumann, the United Steelworkers union’s National Director for Canada.

“While it claims to meet its commitments under the Investment Canada Act, Vale decides to close the smelting and refining facilities in Thompson, Manitoba,” Neumann said.

“This closure will eliminate a crucial value-added component of Thomson’s mining operations, potentially killing more than 500 jobs and dealing a devastating blow to the community.

“This clearly demonstrates Vale’s lack of commitment to Manitoba. Rather than invest in its Thomson operations, Vale opts to cut 40 per cent of its workforce and wreak more havoc on Canadian working families.”

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Vale Canada’s Net Benefits – by Terence Corcoran (National Post-November 18, 2010)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper. Terence Corcoran’s editorial opinion was originally published on November 18, 2010. This cannot be true. The Brazilian mining giant Vale announced $10-billion in new investment in Canada, building new facilities, opening new mines, pouring fresh capital into Sudbury. Where did this come from? For weeks now, the only thing Canadians knew …

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Manitoba Government News Release – PREMIER VOWS FIGHT TO PROTECT JOBS IN THOMPSON [Manitoba]

November 17, 2010

Vale’s Proposed Shutdown of Smelter, Refinery Operations Completely Unacceptable: Selinger

Premier Greg Selinger today called on the owners of Vale’s Thompson operations to work with the Province of Manitoba, the City of Thompson and the United Steelworkers union to immediately seek alternative solutions to closing the smelter and refinery in Thompson by 2015.
 
“This decision comes without due notice or proper consultation with our government and the City of Thompson,” said Selinger.  “Vale’s intended course of action is unacceptable and our government stands firmly with the people of Thompson in saying this job loss will have a significant impact on the community and the province.”
 
The proposed shutdown of the Thompson smelter and refinery would result in a loss of about 500 jobs or 40 per cent of the current Vale Thompson workforce.
 
“We have a long and very successful history of supporting the mining industry through initiatives such as training, taxes and geoscience,” said Innovation, Energy and Mining Minister Dave Chomiak. 

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