The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
An official with nickel giant Vale recently spoke on the company's plans for Thompson. Lovro Paulic, general manager of the company's Manitoba operations, addressed the Thompson Chamber of Commerce on Feb. 29. Vale will shut down its Thompson smelter and refinery operations in 2015 and, as a result, is working on a transition plan to minimize layoffs and operate with fewer assets. 'We've already begun the process of converting to a single furnace operation,' said Paulic. 'The plan was to produce 108 million pounds (of nickel) using two furnaces and five converters, but we're going to attempt to do it using one furnace and two converters.' Paulic explained that the process for transitioning long-term employees, defined as those hired prior to last Oct. 1, over to the mines from surface operations is being undertaken and strategies have been developed. 'The question is, how do we plan on doing that with minimal impact to the community and our operations, and to your businesses?' said Paulic. Forecasts show Vale's attrition rates are declining as it moves toward 2015, and Paulic said the company doesn't expect to have to make any layoffs of employees hired prior to last Oct. 1. Transfer All employees who transfer from the mining and milling sector will be afforded the opportunity to receive the necessary skills, knowledge and training. Seniority of hourly employees and transfer preferences will be respected in accordance with Vale's commitments under the collective agreement with the United Steelworkers union. 'If we can't retain, or employ someone here in Thompson, then we can employ them in Sudbury or somewhere else with Vale,' said Lovro. 'With that there would not only be a relocation allowance, but there would also be a $50,000 bonus to that.' There is a .01 per cent chance, Paulic said, that Vale will have to lay off specified employees, but on that off chance, the employee would be paid out one and a half times their annual salary. Non-management sources have previously predicted the final net job loss through layoffs could total somewhere between 250 and 500 as a result of the smelter and refinery closure _ which would likely result in an annual payroll hit between $32.5 million and $65 million. The Thompson Nickel Belt Sustainability Act, which was passed and received royal assent last June, has yet to be proclaimed into law by the provincial government. See 'No...' on pg. 16 Continued from pg. 9 A section of the Act, with its reference to the Thompson Nickel Belt Economic Development Fund, specifies the "operation of the fund is to be supported by amounts appropriated by the legislature for the fund, which amounts are to be determined with reference to the taxes paid by Vale under The Mining Tax Act." Jodee Mason, press secretary to cabinet, said last December: 'We continue to be in discussions with Vale on the establishment of the fund, we expect to be proclaiming sections of the Act soon and will release more details once that occurs." Three months later there is still no word on when the Act will be proclaimed. Short-term, as well as medium- and long-term retention strategies have been developed by Vale, Paulic told the chamber. A communication plan has been established that includes a community newsletter, employee business updates and an hourly employee interest/transition survey. Retention and attraction initiatives have been undertaken, and include an employee family facilitator program, designed to keep Thompson as an attractive option for employment in the future. Vale has worked alongside the Thompson Economic Diversification Working Group, which it initiated and funded, and is invested in community and economic diversification initiatives going forward, Paulic said. Strategy The company has also established a Northern Employment Strategy and is working on a pilot program in Nelson House and Thompson to revise hiring standards. 'Typically, what we've done in the past, is we get resumes and they either are an acceptable candidate or they're not,' said Paulic. 'What we're working on right now is looking at those candidates who don't necessarily qualify right now, and what we can do with those potential candidates.' Enter the Process Operator in Training (POinT) employment and training program. The eight-week training program will prepare those who don't necessarily measure up, with either experience or education, to enter the Vale workforce. 'If they are successful with the eight-week program, then we will look into hiring them,' said Paulic. 'If they don't meet any of the criteria, then they would first enter a 12- week program and if they pass through that, then they could enter the eight-week program, and if they go through that they become potential employees.' What the program will mean, Paulic said, is that local businesses will no longer be used as a starting point for experience, and Vale will be able to prepare potential employees independently. Vale's issue lies not with retention but more with attraction, said Paulic, and a better job needs to be done in educating people on the prospect of working in the mining industry. 'We have 30,000 people living in northern Manitoba, and not many of them know much about mining,' said Paulic. 'We have a responsibility to get out there and attract and make mining a number one priority as opposed to close to no priority.' _ Matt Durnan, Thompson Citizen
