Workers at Quebec smelter locked out after rejecting contract offer

Workers at the ABI aluminum smelter in Becancour, Que., have been locked out after rejecting a contact offer.

A spokeswoman for the United Steelworkers Local 9700 confirmed the facility’s 1,030 employees were locked out at 3 a.m. Thursday, less than 24 hours after they voted more than 80 per cent to reject of the company’s latest contract offer.

The union says the bargaining committee will meet soon to establish a strategy to what it called a cavalier gesture by the company.

In the meantime, workers were stationed in front of the factory, about halfway between Montreal and Quebec City.

Management, which had called the offer final, said Wednesday it was disappointed with vote result.

There are reports the company plans to maintain certain operations using managers.

After releasing the vote results, the union said it believed a settlement was possible and urged the company to resume bargaining to replace a fiveyear collective agreement that expired in November.

The union says the key issue in the dispute is a company plan to introduce a new member-funded pension plan instead of a defined plan.