Côte-Nord: An agreement reached with Minerai de fer Québec

As the third week of strike at ArcelorMittal’s facilities on the North Shore begins, an agreement in principle was reached Monday with employees of another mining company.

At the end of some sixty negotiation meetings that took place over a six-month period, Minerai de fer Québec and the Steelworkers agreed to renew the collective agreement for the 389 unionized employees.

The contents of the agreement were not disclosed. It will be presented to the workers in the week of June 15 and the union will recommend its acceptance.

According to union adviser Dany Maltais, it would be very surprising if union members rejected the agreement like those of ArcelorMittal recently.

“We are assured of the agreement. We do not want the agreement in principle to be rejected. It is never pleasant for anyone. We are comfortable with what we have negotiated. Very great chance of success, ”he said in an interview with TVA Nouvelles on Tuesday.

The company Minerai de fer Québec will wait for the results of the union members’ vote before commenting.

If the union is so confident, it is because representatives recently consulted their members in order to validate their expectations.

At the same time as negotiations with Minerai de fer Québec, a strike was called two weeks ago by the 2,500 ArcelorMittal workers in Fermont and Port-Cartier.

In this context, the union made sure to be in tune with its members.

“We took the opportunity of what is happening with our neighbors to say: ‘Oh! We take a time out, we meet, we discuss and we look at our priorities.’ I think that has helped us greatly to reach an agreement focused on the needs of the members and targeted on what the employer is able to give as well. We made a nice adjustment, ”admitted Dany Maltais.

Meanwhile, there is no reason to believe a return to the negotiating table between the Steelworkers and ArcelorMittal. Nothing has happened since the last meeting on May 20. The mining company is thus preparing for a long conflict, according to its spokesperson.

“Faced with the position of the union which refuses to negotiate, despite the openness that has been demonstrated from the very beginning of this process, we have to admit that the conflict could last much longer than what we would all have anticipated. So our corporate duty, as a responsible manager, is to prepare ourselves so that the conflict may unfortunately continue, ”said Annie Paré.

The United Steelworkers did not wish to react to ArcelorMittal’s statements.

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