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| Labrador Inuit Association members Jerry Campbell, Sybella Daniels, Harriet Kalleo and Ross Dicker are heavy equipment operators working with IKC/Borealis, VBNC’s civic construction contractor. |
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We are committed to ensuring that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are the primary beneficiaries of the Voisey’s Bay project. Our efforts to maximize opportunities for residents of the province have been an integral part of the way we have been managing our activities since the earliest stages of the project’s development. The various agreements that VBNC has with Labrador Inuit Association (LIA), Innu Nation and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador outline our employment commitments. To help make those commitments a reality, we are proactive in maximizing employment opportunities.
The collective agreement between VBNC and the Resource Development Council on construction activities at the mine and concentrator site in Labrador demonstrates the scope of our commitments to Innu Nation and LIA and to other Newfoundland and Labrador residents and ensures that these commitments are met. This collective agreement is producing good results for Aboriginal peoples, for the residents of Labrador and Newfoundland and for VBNC.
The agreement allows for a set of hiring guidelines developed with the support of the Resource Development Council and its member unions. The hiring guidelines are very straightforward. When a contractor is hiring personnel, they will hire in the following order:
First preference to qualified members of LIA and Innu Nation who are members of a union;
Second preference to qualified members of LIA and Innu Nation who are not members of a union;
Third preference to qualified residents of Labrador who are union members;
Fourth preference to qualified residents of Labrador who are not members of a union; and
Fifth preference to qualified union members from the Island part of the province.
Contractors have sole discretion to determine the qualifications of personnel they need to meet their contractual obligations, however, when a contractor accepts a construction contract to work at Voisey’s Bay, they have agreed to follow the hiring guidelines.
As part of our commitment to transparency, we report to government, Innu Nation and the Labrador Inuit Association regularly on employment. We have also established a Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs office in Goose Bay, Labrador, with a staff of six people including an Innu employment coordinator and an Inuit employment coordinator. These individuals facilitate hiring of Aboriginal peoples and provide access to information about the project to local residents. The Goose Bay office allows us to be proactive in our effort to maximize employment opportunities for local residents and ensures that the lines of communication between VBNC and local residents are always open.
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