SOREL-TRACY, Quebec — Some 180 United Steelworkers union members have been on strike against Rio Tinto’s iron and titanium operation here since July 10. They are fighting for better wages and against concessions the company demands on their vacations. The workers voted down the bosses’ “final” offer by 98% July 3. They have been without a contract for a year.
Rio Tinto is a British- and Australian-based mining conglomerate with operations in 35 countries, employing 60,000 workers. The bosses boasted a profit of over $11 billion in 2024.
“Our members always find themselves being considered as an ‘adjustment variable’ on which the employer relies to maximize its profits,” Steelworkers union representative Yves Rolland told the press. “These workers are demanding to be paid according to their real contributions to this company.”
The strikers have been aided by solidarity and donations from USW locals at Lafarge Cement, Owens-Illinois, Infasco and three different ArcelorMittal locals in the region. They have also received solidarity visits from Canadian National Teamsters train conductors and other workers.
Workers on the picket line told us health and safety is a major question in the plant. Over the past 10 years, two subcontractor company workers died in the plant due to dangerous working conditions.
There are two different unions here, the USW on strike and a CSN local. The 900 CSN workers adopted a new contract in January, winning wage raises of 5.5%, 3.5% and 3% in each of three years. They also won increases in evening and night shift premiums.
Workers in Quebec are not new to battles with Rio Tinto. In 2012, 770 workers in the company’s aluminum smelter in Alma were locked out for six months. They won a cap on the number of nonunion subcontractors, who are paid half the wages of union workers.