Members of Algoma Steel’s largest union have granted a strike mandate to its bargaining committee.
Mike Da Prat, president of United Steelworkers Local 2251, announced Monday night that members had voted 99% in favor of the strike permit.
Voting was by secret ballot Monday at GFL Memorial Gardens.
Local 2251 represents about 2,000 workers per hour.
A strike authorization vote is not a vote to strike immediately, but it puts the Steelworkers in a legal strike position.
The current collective agreement expires at the end of this month.
Steelmaker Sault recently announced a fourth-quarter net profit of $ 243 million, up from $ 100 million in the same period last year.
It also announced the largest employee pay in its 121-year history: $ 151 million in total profit-sharing payments for fiscal year 2022.
Da Prat argues that Algoma’s current tax aptitude indicates that the company must distribute some of this wealth to workers who over the years have made concessions repeatedly to ensure Algoma’s survival.