No Strike Deal Sealed In Kitimat Smelter By Rio Tinto, Bechtel, Unions

August 30, 2008 1:54 p.m. EST

Vancouver, British Columbia (AHN) - Rio Tinto Alcan, Bechtel Corp., and construction unions in Yukon and British Columbia, whose members will work at the Kitimat aluminum smelter in Northern British Columbia, signed a labor agreement, which would boost the $2.5 billion modernization of the smelter.

Highlights of the agreement, which was signed Thursday in Vancouver, include a no strike and no lock-out clause, commitment to hire local and aboriginal workers, and a drug and alcohol policy requiring potential employees to go through drug tests before hiring.

Reports said the different trade unions involved in the project will work together in providing skilled labor. Project start-up is expected in October.

Early this year, Rio Tinto Alcan awarded a construction management contract worth $200 million to Bechtel for the modernization of the Kitimat smelter.

Bechtel, participating contractors, and the B.C. Coalition of Building Trade Unions created the Kitimat Modernization Employer Association the project.

The Kitimat smelter, which was opened in the late fifties, will be rebuilt to transform the smelter into one of the world's largest and most efficient by 2011.