Three UnitedSteelworkers of America locals on strike at Cominco Ltd
rejected a tentative three-year contract, a union
representative said.
     "The vote was 1,229, or 54.5 pct, against, and 1,028, or
45.5 pct, for the contract. Eighty-one pct of the membership
voted," he said.
     The union representative said that the pact offered cost
of living increases designed to keep pace with inflation, but
contained no wage increase.       
    The locals' bargaining committees are expected to meet and
prepare for the reopening of negotiations with Cominco, he
said.
     The three locals cover about 2,600 production and
maintenance workers at Cominco's Trail smelter and Kimberley,
B.C. lead-zinc mine.
     Output at both sites has been shut down since the
production and maintenance workers, along with about 600 office
and technical workers, went on strike May nine.     
     The two Steelworkers locals representing the office and
technical workers have not negotiated since May 21.
     The strike caused Cominco to declare force majeire, which
means the company may not be able to honor contracts for
products from the smelter and mine.
    Each of the five locals have separate contracts, all of
which expired April 30, but the main issues are similar.       

     The union had requested a three pct wage increase in each
year of a two-year contract. Cominco had pressed for a
three-year contract and some loosening of the rules on job
classifications.
     The Trail smelter, about 400 miles east of Vancouver,
produced 240,000 long tons of zinc and 110,000 long tons of
lead last year. The Sullivan mine at Kimberley, about 450 miles
east of Vancouver, produced 2.2 mln long tons of ore last year,
most for processing at the Trail smelter.
     The smelter also produced cadmium, bismuth and indium.
     Revenues from the Trail smelter totalled 356 mln Canadian
dlrs in 1986.        
 Reuter
