Mining and Smelting
There are approximately 7,000 CAW members currently working in the broader mining and smelting sector. Over half of these members work for Alcan/Rio Tinto, at large manufacturing facilities in Quebec and British Columbia. Another large group of CAW members is employed by Xstrata in Sudbury and Timmins (representing over 1000 CAW members when those facilities are fully operational). Smaller groups of CAW members are employed at other mining operations, including the Canadian Salt Company near Windsor, NIOBEC in Quebec, and NVI Mining in B.C.
Less than one-third of mining workers in Canada belong to a union. So there is enormous potential for new organizing in this sector. Rising commodity prices in recent years have generated enormous riches for mining and resource companies in Canada. But without a union, workers will never have a chance to share fully in the wealth that they produce.
- Our Resources Stay Here: Seven Reasons Why the Xstrata Metallurgical Site Must Stay, February 2010
- Production, Profits & Power...behind the success of Rio Tinto Alcan in Canada: May 2009
- Falconbridge
- Buzz Hargrove Letter to Prime Minister Harper on the Phelps Dodge Takeover Bid - June 28, 2006
- CAW Statement on the Proposed Inco-Falconbridge Merger, November 2005
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