Vale Inco trims 261 Sudbury workers.

• Author: Stewart, Nick
• Position: NEWS

Vale Inco Ltd. is cutting 261 jobs from its Greater Sudbury workforce of 5,500 as part of a move to eliminate 900-full-time positions across its global nickel operations.

These layoffs, which were effective upon announcement, represent nearly half of the 423 Canadian jobs being eliminated through this announcement, a result of ongoing challenges in the world nickel market.

"These are the toughest decisions that any company has to make because they're impacting people," says Cory McPhee, corporate spokesman for Vale Inco.

"We want to treat them with dignity and respect. This is no indication of the contributions of these employees, but a function of a very depressed market condition we're experiencing right now."

The type of jobs being trimmed largely consist of staff positions, such as corporate management and business support functions. These could potentially include such roles as supervisory positions, or in support departments such as accounting and information technology, though the exact nature of the trimmed jobs is unknown.

While the majority of workers are nonunionized staff, 65 members of United Steelworkers Local 2020 are being impacted by the move. Core production and maintenance jobs remain untouched in these particular cuts, meaning that members of United Steelworkers Local 6500 are unaffected.

While no specific numbers were available for Sudbury, McPhee says that roughly 25 percent of the 900 globally lost jobs will be eligible to pension-eligible, meaning they would be able to immediately go on their pension if they wish.

The remainder will be offered "appropriate" severance packages. Transitional support, such as financial and career counseling, is also expected to be provided.

"We're trying to streamline the operation, become more efficient and control our costs. Today's announcement is solely based on a restructuring of the operation," McPhee says.

This round of cuts is in line with Vale Inco's announcement in December 2008 that it was...