Agreement reached at Bedrock Industries plant in Sept-Îles, Que.

Workers will ratify once facility reopens: USW

United Steelworkers (USW), Local 6254 and Bedrock Industries reached an agreement in principle on March 18 on a collective agreement renewal related to the restart of the Pointe-Noire pellet plant in Sept-Îles, Que.

“We are very pleased to have reached an agreement-in-principle that will determine the working conditions that will be in place once the plant reopens,” said Nicolas Lapierre, Steelworkers coordinator for Quebec’s North Shore region. “The negotiations went well, with both parties demonstrating they were serious about the process.”

The agreement in principle calls for the collective agreement to be ratified by workers at the Pointe-Noire pellet plant once it is back in operation, said the union.

The Pointe-Noire plant employed USW members before its shutdown in June 2013. A few months later in 2014, Cliffs Natural Resources filed for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act. It is now owned by the Société ferroviaire et portuaire de Pointe-Noire (SFPPN) and should be officially taken over by Bedrock Industries soon, once a commercial agreement between the two groups is finalized, said USW.

The United Steelworkers/Syndicat des Métallos is the largest private-sector union in Quebec, representing about 60,000 workers in all sectors of the economy.

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