Reuters reported that contract talks between Vale's Vale Inco unit and the United Steelworkers union representing staff at its Sudbury and Port Colborne locations in Ontario have broken down.

It may be noted that employees at both locations have been on strike since July 13th 2009. Vale had put forward a new 5 year offer to settle the strike which was rejected by the USW.

Vale said no further talks are scheduled.

The union, representing production and maintenance employees at the locations, said that it has scheduled membership meetings for members to vote on Vale's offer of settlement, which it described as falling far short of the union membership's expectations.

(Sourced from Reuters)