New CEO at IOC in Labrador City as company shuffles management

There's been a shuffle in management at the Iron Ore Company of Canada in Labrador City.

That's according to internal documents CBC has obtained laying out "organizational changes."

The announcement is attributed to new IOC president and CEO Clayton Walker who said he was with the company for 60 days when it was sent out on January 6th.

The company's chief operating officer, Thierry Martel, also signed off on the document. 

"We are going to learn from the past and build upon our success," the document reads.

"The first step will be changing the organizational structural to allow us to better engage with our employees and manage our assets."

Walker replaces Kelly Sanders, who had been CEO since 2014.

• Kelly Sanders to takes over as IOC boss

The document also states Mike Wickersham, who previously held the title of vice-president northern operations, is now vice-president future operations.

"In this role, he will assess the future value of mine innovation opportunities and the future operations model for IOC," the document reads. "I would like to thank Mike for his efforts as both safety and operational performance of IOC northern operations has improved considerably under his leadership."

All time low

​The shake-up comes at a time when management-employee relations are said to be at an all-time low, but also as iron ore prices are on the rebound.

Employees say it has been a shaky few years for the mine under Sanders and Wickersham.

The union told CBC News it is dealing with over 3,000 grievances and workers have complained there is a 'climate of fear' at the site.

• 'We're living in fear': IOC workers say labour-management relations at all time low

Worries about the mental health of employees were made public after it was revealed that a number of suicides in the area were connected to people working at the mine or linked in some way.

• Suicides in Labrador West: Grieving mother says her son faced inhumane treatment
• 'Are you really fine?': Husband of woman who drove over IOC truck says not enough help for mental health

Workers also said they were being forced into overtime shifts, something the union said meant 15-20 per cent of the workforce at any given time were on site because of "forced overtime" and that was contributing to worker fatigue.

The company denied the claim of forced overtime.

Local Steelworkers' Union president Ron Thomas did not want to comment on the changes, but did tell CBC News he remains positive that things are going to change for the better.

IOC refused to discuss the changes in management, but did provide a short e-mail statement.

"Organizational changes are on an ongoing part of the business," said director of communications and external relations Heather Bruce-Veitch.