Hudbay has applied for concilliation to advance contract talks with its
largest union, but union negotiators worry the company wants a “knee-jerk agreement.”
As of Monday, no date had been set for concilliation involving the company and USW 7106, which represents about 600 employees in Flin Flon and Snow Lake.
“Negotiation with USW is progressing,” said Rob Winton, head of Hudbay’s Manitoba Business Unit. “We have applied for conciliation to assist both parties reach [an] agreement that is fair to our employees and meets the needs of the business unit. It is our goal to achieve agreement in a timely manner to ensure our ambitious targets can be met and exceeded.”
Tom Davie, president of USW 7106, said the union is “somewhat disappointed” by Hudbay’s decision.
“Our last update was a positive perspective on the process, since we had signed and agreed to some small language changes,” he said. “But the next day Hudbay filed for concilliation. Our [bargaining] committee was at odds with their approach due to the fact that concilliation is reserved for if and when talks break down.”
Davie said concilliation was not even on USW’s radar when Hudbay made the application, causing the union to speculate about the company’s motives.
“Our committee believes that Hudbay’s intentions are to reach a knee-jerk agreement ASAP,” Davie said. “7106 believes that this contract is the most important contract to date and we fully intend to take in all information and do our due diligence in taking time to access each step of the process to achieve the best possible contract for the membership. We will not be rushed.”
Davie said that at this point changes to contractual language are key for USW. Once those are settled, the union believes monetary talks can begin.
But “history has proven time and time again that once the monetary proposals reach the table that all language changes are pushed off,” said Davie.
Davie said USW is also concerned that Hudbay is bringing in too many contractors rather than hiring local people.
“The extreme cost of a contract to an outside company to bring in four contractors could be used to employ 10-plus local employees,” he said.
USW has not discussed a strike or a strike vote at this time, Davie said, and is instead focusing its energy on bargaining.
“Strikes are generally reserved for the last option in any negotiation,” he said. “As it stands, we are not at our last option.”
Asked how long negotiations will realistically take, Davie had no firm answer.
“It will take as long as it takes for Hudbay to realize that our committee needs an agreement we can recommend,” he said.
By far Hudbay’s largest Flin Flon-Snow Lake union, USW bargains independently from the other unions.
“Our committee and [machinist union] IAM’s committee do keep in touch and deliberate, but neither party impacts each other at the table,” said Davie. “As far as the other smaller unions at Hudbay, contribution is minor as they have and will benefit from our negotiations.”
IAM 1848 has scheduled a strike vote for its 190 members on Tuesday, March 17. The vote can only carry with support from at least two-thirds of members.
A vote in favour of a strike would not necessarily result in job action, but it would give IAM the option of doing so as early as April 21.
IAM negotiators were dissatisfied with recent concilliation talks. Additional meetings are scheduled for April 14.
Hudbay applied for concilliation for USW negotiations on Feb. 20.
