Vale Sudbury Office Workers OK Deal, Avert Strike

TORONTO, Apr. 1 -- Unionized office, clerical, and technical workers at Vale's (VALE5.SA: Quote, Profile, Research) Sudbury, Ontario, nickel mining operations have accepted a new contract offer, averting a strike, the company said on Wednesday.

The deal does not affect a separate walkout of about 3,000 mine, mill and smelter workers that began last July.

Brazil's Vale, which acquired the operations when it bought Canada's Inco in 2006, said in a statement that union workers voted 84.5 percent in favor of the new three-year collective agreement.

The ratification comes despite a recommendation from the union's bargaining committee that workers reject the deal.

The new contract expires March 31, 2013, and includes salary increases in each of the next three years, as well as changes to pension and bonus plans.

Vale is currently increasing nickel production in Sudbury despite the mine strike, using non-mine employees and contract workers.

Vale's Voisey's Bay mine in Eastern Canada has also been hit by a strike that began last August.