Here's a link to something that has been simmering since 2008 under Peggy Kent. Looks like WTG have done the right thing. As such, I think this is good news...even though it is a 1 million dollar hit to the bottom line. I'd rather have this than unhappy miners go on strike...it wouldn't take long to lose a million bucks with a mine shutdown.

The other very positive thing out of this settlement relates to the signing of the collective agreement:

Collective agreement signed
Since joining the CSN, the union employees of the Sigma-Lamaque mine has signed two agreements. The latest, a four and a half years, was ratified last November to 85% by members. Considering the negotiation of 2010, wage increases totaling 31% over six years, from 1 January 2010 to March 31, 2016. Many other gains were also achieved, especially with regard to retirement, job protection and health and safety.

Full Text - Google Translation from French original:

$ 905 000 in lieu of notice of termination - The union of Sigma-Lamaque (CSN) gets more than a million dollars

VAL D'OR, QC, Feb. 6. 2012 / CNW Telbec / -

After an epic battle that lasted more than two years on a grievance filed in 2008, the union employees of the Sigma-Lamaque Mine (CSN), Val-d'Or, is reached an agreement with the employer.

Under the settlement reached by the union with the valuable assistance of the CSN, the multinational Century Mining Corporation will pay a compensatory amount of $ 905,000 as compensation for termination notice to 141 workers thanked for their service in July 2008 .

At that time, union members, who were represented by a business agent, struggled to see light at the end of the tunnel. But when they joined the CSN by a vote of membership to 98% in January 2010, appeals for reimbursement of compensation were really engaged.

That ceased operations in July 2008, the company had always refused to recognize its obligation to pay compensation, even when its activities were resumed in 2010. She had ignored the workers, without following the notice of termination and without paying the amounts due to them, more than a million dollars. The union was able to be reimbursed the full amount due, including unpaid wages of all workers, the salaries of 45 employees who worked during the three weeks of the closing and vacation pay for 2008 and 2009.

In the late afternoon yesterday, the 141 union members concerned, in general meeting, have read the agreement and have, of course, ratified. The union currently includes 200 workers.

Settlement of $ 905,000, plus a sum of $ 140,000 (including interest) that the CSN has successfully recovered last November. During the previous May, the employer had stopped paying workers' representatives to the union dues deducted from the paid employees and the amounts of annual savings.

Distribution of recoveries
The amount of $ 905 000 will be allocated as follows: employees with less than ten years of continuous service are entitled to seven weeks' pay, while those with more than ten years will receive an amount equivalent to eight weeks pay. It should be noted that the dismissed workers who have left the mine will also be compensated according to the same scales.

For the union's president, Robert Marcoux, there is no doubt that membership of the union with the CSN has made all the difference in this matter "which was ably led as much by the Legal Department of the CSN as Central Council of the Abitibi-Témiscamingue-Nord-du-Québec (CSN) and the Federation of manufacturing (FIM-CSN). "

As for the president of the Central Council Donald Rheault, he noted that the NSC had spared no effort to support the union mines Sigma-Lamaque. "As we do with each union, all necessary resources were deployed to win the case and that justice is done. "

Collective agreement signed
Since joining the CSN, the union employees of the Sigma-Lamaque mine has signed two agreements. The latest, a four and a half years, was ratified last November to 85% by members. Considering the negotiation of 2010, wage increases totaling 31% over six years, from 1 January 2010 to March 31, 2016. Many other gains were also achieved, especially with regard to retirement, job protection and health and safety.

Moreover, the latter employment contract allowed the union to win back what they had to concede to the company in the past, such as seniority, holidays and overtime paid with an hourly wage plus Sunday.

Lamaque mine was discovered in 1923 while the orebody Sigma was spotted in 1934. Grouped into a single industrial complex, Sigma and Lamaque properties are operated jointly since 2004 by Century Mining. In the fall, it merged with the Russian White Tiger Gold Mining. The life of the mine is estimated at ten years.

The CSN has more than 300,000 workers from all sectors, both public and private.

Original:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/916619/905-000-en-indemnite-de-preavis-de-licenciement-le-syndicat-de-sigma-lamaque-csn-recupere-plus-d-un-million-de-dollars