Workers at SNOLAB reject contract, headed to mediation

After unanimously rejecting a contract from their employer, 59 workers at SNOLAB, an underground research laboratory in Sudbury, Ont. could soon be on strike, pending mediation.

The United SteelworkersLocal 2020 represents the SNOLAB workers. The dispute is going to a Ministry of Labour mediation session on May 6 to avoid a possible strike.

The people who work at the underground laboratory deep inside Vale's Creighton Mine, are involved in testing, experiments and research.

Past SNOLAB research on neutrino oscillations earned ArthurMcDonald the Nobel Prize in physics in 2015.

Current SNOLAB experiments include research into dark matter, supernovas and studies on the effects of working deep underground, using fruit flies as a model organism.

"SNOLAB bills itself as a 'world-class science facility,' but its actions at the bargaining table show that it isn't too concerned about the retention of world-class employees," said Tracy Nguyen, a unionrepresentative involved in the contract negotiations, in a press release.

"SNOLAB has had the opportunity to show our members that their unique knowledge and experience is valued. Instead, not only have they offered wages well-below today's realities, they actually have demanded concessions from workers."