United Steelworkers Local 6500 members have strongly endorsed a new five-year collective agreement with Vale.
According to the Vale website, Dino Otranto, chief operating officer for the North Atlantic operations of the company says the deal has been ratified.
He says the members voted 85 percent in favour of the new five-year deal last night and it takes effect immediately.
Vale employees will return to work next week with production ramping up in the weeks ahead.
The union says the main stumbling block in the contract was the protection of benefits for younger workers, but the new deal offered a six percent wage hike over five years, in addition to cost-of-living adjustments; a $2,500 recognition payment for efforts during the pandemic, to be paid this month; a $3,500 signing bonus, to be paid in September; the preservation of retiree health benefits for all future hires; and the continuation of over-the-counter drug coverage.
The workers had been on strike since June 1st.