By Scott Neigh
Northern Ontario Correspondent

On July 7 and 8, 2010, striking members of United Steel Workers Local 6500 in Sudbury, Ontario, voted 75% in favour of a contract that ended a bitter strike against transnational mining giant Vale Inco. The 3300 strikers had been on the picket lines for almost one year (along with members of Local 6200 in Port Colborne, Ontario, who voted in favour by a similar margin).

Despite the immense effort and sacrifices made by workers over the course of the year-long ordeal, the settlement marks a defeat for a local with a reputation for strength in a town with a reputation for solidarity. It is a hard moment for those who are returning to work -- who endured so much and still lost significant ground -- but as the world faces the renewed neo-liberal assault promised by leaders at the recent G20 summit in Toronto, it is important to ask critical questions that might strengthen all of our struggles in the difficult times ahead.

By Scott Neigh
Northern Ontario Correspondent

One useful insight that emerged from the upsurge in struggle that became visible in North America at the end of the 1990s can be summarized by a maxim often attributed to Jello Biafra, "Don't criticize the media, become the media."

By Scott Neigh
Northern Ontario Correspondent

A new group based in Sudbury, Ont. is working to build national support for John Moore, an Ojibway man wrongfully convicted of second degree murder in 1978. Moore and the committee are currently asking groups and individuals from across Canada to sign on to a one-paragraph statement that outlines the injustice and asserts that "in recognition of the long history of indigenous people being targeted unfairly by the Canadian justice system, we, the individuals and groups listed below, call upon the Government of Canada to conduct a review of Moore's conviction."

Moore, a member of the Serpent River First Nation who grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. was accused of involvement in the murder of cab driver Donald Lanthier in August 1978. Moore said, "I unequivocally did not commit the crime."

By Scott Neigh

SUDBURY, Ont. — 150 post-secondary students, joined by dozens of striking members of Steelworkers Local 6500 and community supporters, marched in Sudbury Nov. 5 demanding a poverty-free Ontario and reduced tuition fees. The march was part of a provincial “day of action” organized by the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS).

Ontario has the highest post-secondary tuition fees in the country. CFS publications state that more than 70% of all new jobs require post-secondary education while the youth unemployment rate has topped 18%.

Rafiq Rahemtulla, vice president of the Graduate Student Association at Laurentian University, said Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government is reviewing tuition with the intent of introducing a new comprehensive policy in 2010.

By Scott Neigh
August 1, 2009

More than 3300 employees of mining giant Vale Inco are on strike in Sudbury, Ontario, and in other Canadian communities to defend decades' worth of gains. Beyond that, the strike by members of Locals 6500 and 6200 of the United Steel Workers of America also raise important questions about how unions orient themselves towards their communities and towards the nation-states in which their members live.

There are a number of "very provocative issues for the men" in the company's demands, according to a 21-year veteran of Inco's transportation division who requested to remain anonymous when interviewed at a picket line in the Sudbury community of Copper Cliff.* He pointed out, "There's absolutely no monetary raise in this contract" and no expectation by the members that there would be one, given the low price of nickel and the state of the global economy.