Reuters reported that Rio Tinto's lockout of workers at its Alcan division's big Alma aluminum smelter in northern Quebec looks set to drag on and no talks were scheduled.

Mr Bryan Tucker spokesman Rio Tinto Alcan said that "I wouldn't put a timeline to talks right now because nothing is scheduled."

Rio Tinto Alcan locked unionized workers out at the 438,000 tonne smelter, in Saguenay Lac Saint Jean, Quebec on January 1st 2012 after talks on a new contract failed. The old contract expired on December 31 and the two sides had been talking since October. Rio has been operating the plant with non unionized workers at about one third of capacity since early January.

The Anglo Australian miner said that it will restart two suspended lines of production at its Shawinigan smelter in Quebec bringing that plant back to full production although Tucker said the plant will only be back at full capacity in May.

Rio closed the lines, two of four at the 100,000 tonne plant in late December after a major power problem. The company has earmarked the smelter, which was commissioned in the early 1940s, for permanent shutdown in December 2014.

The United Steelworkers union, which represents the more than 750 unionized workers at Alma has sharply criticized Rio for the lockout and accused the mining giant of beginning a major assault on workers and communities.

One sticking point is Rio's plan to increase the proportion of contract employees at the plant to 27% from 10.7%. The union says the contract workers would be paid half the wages currently earned by unionized employees.

Mr Daniel Roy Quebec director of United Steelworkers said that "Accepting this demand would cause a dramatic downward economic spiral not only for the workers but for members of the community, which would see income, local business sales and tax revenues drop precipitously."

(Sourced from Reuters)