Rio Tinto Alcan locks out 800 workers in Quebec
Labour dispute centres on subcontracted labour
The Canadian Press
Posted: Jan 1, 2012 7:44 AM ET
Last Updated: Jan 1, 2012 10:16 PM ET
Rio Tinto Alcan CEO Jacynthe Cote speaks to reporters in Montreal in January 2009. The company has locked out workers at its smelter in Alma, Que. after last-ditch contract talks collapsed. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)
Rio Tinto Alcan has locked out workers at its smelter in Alma, Que., after last-ditch contract talks collapsed Saturday and the union's contract expired at midnight.
The company announced the lockout early Sunday morning, saying plans were in place to ensure its aluminum operations continue to run safely and efficiently.
"We will work to limit the labour disruption's impact Rio Tinto Alcan's customers," the company said in a release.
Staff will continue to operate the plant during the lockout until further notice, the company said.
On Friday about 800 workers from three negotiating units rejected what the company said would be its final offer.
Union officials had a strike mandate before the talks collapsed and had warned that a work stoppage could be imminent.
The sides in the dispute haven't been able to agree on conditions related to subcontracted labour.
The Alma facility hosts one of Rio Tinto Alcan's most important North American aluminum smelters.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- 'Engine shutdown' forced Air Canada jet to land
- A Japan-bound Air Canada Boeing 777 jet had to make an emergency landing at Toronto's Pearson airport on Monday, after one of its engines failed. more »
- CP Rail union, Tories battle over collective bargaining
- The federal Conservatives defended their plan to force striking Canadian Pacific Railway employees back to work as a way to keep the economy on track, while the union representing 4,800 workers said their collective bargaining rights are under attack. more »
- Bullyproof: One classroom confession
- Chadia became physically scarred after incessant teasing. Her story is one of 150 gathered in a video confessional booth at a Quebec school. more »
- Missing Winnipeg kids found in Mexico are back with mom
- Two Winnipeg children who had been missing for nearly four years are back home, reunited with their mother, after they were located in Mexico late last week. more »
Latest Canada News Headlines
- Wacky weather mix across Canada
- Canadians expecting a lovely spring day are getting more than they bargained for in many parts of the country today as weather forecasts look more like the dog days of summer or, in some cases, a winter freeze. more »
- Family of disabled mom killed in blast relieved at arrest
- The family of a disabled Alberta woman killed by an exploding package say they are relieved someone has been charged in her death. more »
- Missing Winnipeg kids found in Mexico are back with mom
- Two Winnipeg children who had been missing for nearly four years are back home, reunited with their mother, after they were located in Mexico late last week. more »
- Quebec resumes talks with student leaders
- Negotiations between student leaders and Quebec's Liberal government resumed this afternoon in a third attempt to resolve the tuition crisis. more »
The National
The Current
- The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: John Coates May. 28, 2012 4:04 PM A stock-market trader turned neuroscientist maps the biological origins of booms and busts.
- Missing Winnipeg kids found in Mexico are back with mom
- 'Engine shutdown' forced Air Canada jet to land
- Canadian Everest climber's body recovered
- Thunder Bay flooding causes state of emergency
- Vatican denies cardinal suspected in leaks scandal
- Evolution skeptics will soon be silenced by science: Richard Leakey
- CP Rail union, Tories battle over collective bargaining
- Man, woman shot dead in Burnaby restaurant
- Wacky weather mix across Canada
