Good points S.N. but...

"Sum...no one ever wants a strike. However sometimes we need to take stock of a situation and look at current realities."

No one wants a strike if it's costing them money, but under the present circumstances they don't seem to need the production and a long wait will only greet them with increased NI value when they get back to it. I'll disagree on the "no one" as I've been there .... where that's exactly what they (the employer) wanted.

"This is not the old Inco that is in control. CVRD has operations all over the world. They can make a profit even if the Sudbury operations are not producing."

......which I would expect serves the point that they have the workers where they need them and don't need to worry about down time for some time to come.

I do appreciate your knowledge in this area though and look forward to your posts.