HOT TOPIC: How long a strike?

The strike by Steelworkers Local 6500 against Vale Inco's Sudbury operations is about to enter its seventh month. Such prolonged strikes have a tremendous economic impact – on individual workers, on their families, and on the town itself.

If you were facing months on the picket lines, how long could you and your family survive the economic consequences?

Go to the CMJ website, www.CanadianMiningJournal.com, and click on the Hot Topic box on the right hand side of the page to vote.

If you have a comment on this topic or a suggestion for a future question, please send it to the Net News editor, Marilyn Scales, MScales@CanadianMiningJournal.com.

Last week: Do CMJ readers share the optimism of Canadian CEOs that a global economic recovery is underway? Roughly four out of five said, yes, they do. Interestingly, the longer last week's Hot Topic was available voting, the more "yes" votes were recorded.

But from one reader came the dire prediction that "We are just starting inflation, and it is growing fast, and this will kill the economic recovery."

There is a die-hard pessimist in every crowd, but his warning should be heeded.