Workers picket the Vale Inco smelter complex in Copper Cliff, near Sudbury, Ont., in July 2009. The company reopened its Sudbury-area operations in October 2009 using non-union staff. (Gino Donato/Canadian Press)

Nickel miner Vale Inco is giving bonus cheques to workers at its Thompson Manitoba operation, while unionized workers remain on strike in Sudbury.

The bonuses are expected to inject an estimated $2 million into the community.

The bonus cheques are the first the Thompson unionized workers have seen in more than a year as the company had forgone quarterly profit-sharing due to the economic downturn and depressed nickel prices.

Mark Matiasek, manager of Thompson's community development agency, said 1,200 miners, each with a couple of thousand dollars in hand, is a welcome sight in the community of about 13,000 people, 740 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

"It will have a positive effect and that will be welcomed among the local merchants here in town for sure," said Matiasek. "I was in Wal-Mart at lunchtime getting ready for the long weekend to go fishing and I noticed a lot of people."

Mike Vokey, who runs a boating supply shop called Nickel City Motors, said with contract talks on the horizon, miners remain worried they'll be on the picket line soon. In Sudbury, Vale Inco workers have been on strike for 10 months — replaced last October by non-union workers.

But for now, the cash injection is a boon to the community.

"This is a confidence thing and they'll go on with life as usual and enjoy their toys and enjoy the area," said Vokey.