Unionized workers have issued a 72-hour strike notice at Rio Tinto’s operations in northwestern B-C.
The roughly 900 members of Unifor Local 23-01 work at the aluminum smelter in Kitimat and the power generating facility in Kemano — and have been negotiating a new contract for nearly seven weeks.
The union says for the first time in more than a decade it is seeking changes to retirement income and benefits and also wants the company to end its refusal to hire full-time workers.
A spokesperson for Rio Tinto says the company is committed to reaching a “mutually beneficial outcome” to bargaining, but the union says the company’s response to its proposals underscore many years of “disrespect and unfair treatment.
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