print this page

Canadian Steelworkers have their heads shaved in Seoul as part of a traditional Korean protest. USW strikers appear at German and Swedish ports to greet a ship laden with Canadian metal, while at home their colleagues dog Canadian Industry Minister/Grim Reaper Tony Clement.

Domestically and abroad, the USW continues to break new ground with our union’s innovative response to Vale Inco’s attack on Canadian communities and working families.

Into the fifth month of the Vale strike by 3,500 Steelworkers, USW resolve, fighting spirit and unity are being showcased worldwide and receiving support from international organizations representing millions of working people. Our battle is receiving global media coverage and being thoroughly documented on our union’s groundbreaking website, FairDealNow.ca, leading Vale to gripe publicly that its would-be reputation is being besmirched.

Our campaign is gaining momentum as we build new and stronger alliances with workers and communities on every continent. Union members everywhere understand what is at stake and detest the greed and aggression of a massively profitable multinational trying to extract huge concessions from workers and communities.

Domestically, Steelworkers and community supporters in Sudbury, Port Colborne and Voisey’s Bay continue to stand up to Vale’s aggression and to take the fight to Vale and its apologists in government.

USW and other activists have confronted Vale Inco at its corporate offices and protested at public events where the company was expected to attend. Vale has preferred to retreat and hide from reality, and has suffered the embarrassment of cancelling “Vale Days” at the New York Stock Exchange and stakeholder meetings.

Steelworkers are holding governments to account, most recently by exposing federal Industry Minister Tony Clement as the “Grim Reaper of Canadian Jobs” in an action outside his office. The strikers made it clear Clement has abdicated his duty to ensure foreign takeovers benefit our communities.

With each passing day, Vale’s unwarranted attack on Canadian working families becomes more discredited. After boasting an incredible $13.2 billion in profits last year, Vale reported third-quarter, after-tax earnings of $1.7 billion this year – more than double its second quarter profits. And even as it predicts greater profits to come, Vale demands massive concessions from its workers and their communities.

The USW will continue to resist this attack on Canadian workers and their communities, recognizing that this battle is about the standard of living for working people in Canada and in all the countries in which Vale operates.

Visit www.FairDealNow.ca for daily updates on the Vale Inco strike campaign.