SUDBURY, Ontario Ninety per cent of the 3,300 members of Steelworkers Local 6500 turned out and voted 94.9% against the final contract offer from INCO LTD. The picket lines went up last weekend at all 12 of the company's mines and plants in the Sudbury area.
Pensions and wages topped the list of issues on which the company and union don't see eye to eye. The two sides have squared off and issued press releases condemning the other. If analysts are correct, the work stoppage could last at least through the summer.
The strike is already affecting the prices of nickel, copper and cobalt, undoubtedly because Inco supplies about 20% of the world's nickel and significant amounts of the other metals. Inco has declared force majeure under certain of its sales contracts.
To follow the continuing dispute see Inco's web site at www.inco.com and the Steelworkers' site, www.uswa.ca.
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