While both sides want the partial strike to end, Hudbay and IAM Local 1848 were full of gratitude as the job action entered its 11th day yesterday.
Hudbay commended workers for maintaining production throughout IAM’s now-defunct tactic of delaying traffic entering company properties.
“I would like to thank our employees for their patience last week as we worked through the delays in getting everyone to work,” said Rob Winton, head of Hudbay’s Manitoba division. “Together, the management team and employees were able to keep our operations safe and productive through a trying situation.”
On the union end, IAM president Rene Beauchamp said the community, businesses and other unions have been highly supportive of IAM.
“It has been amazing,” he told several dozen union members and supporters at a community barbecue Sunday.
Beauchamp told the crowd that it’s “always sad when negotiations break down and this kind of action results,” but added there had been “no negotiation to date.”
Asked Monday afternoon if there was anything new to report, Beauchamp said there wasn’t.
At the barbecue, hosted by the Hudbay carpenters’ union near the main gate picket line, Beauchamp was critical of Hudbay’s spending priorities.
“Hudbay should have spent the money they have wasted on their contingency plan at the bargaining table. We would have had a deal by now,” he said. “Our members are standing strong and are committed to getting a fair collective agreement with Hudbay.”
No delays
At that point Beauchamp announced that this week, IAM would not delay vehicles entering Hudbay property, as it did on four occasions last week.
“We hope that this will encourage Hudbay to come back to the table for honest and sincere discussions that can lead to a fair collective bargaining agreement,” Beauchamp added. “IAM is looking forward to the day when we can all get back to work.”
While some interpreted Beauchamp’s announcement to mean IAM might return to traffic delays in the future, Winton said the company will make sure it can keep operating.
“Hudbay has and will continue to ensure the safe access of our employees to their work locations,” Winton said, “and will employ the necessary means to ensure the legal right to operate our business is maintained.”
The situation within Hudbay since the strike began May 2 has been a point of debate between the company and IAM.
IAM said it offered to assist Hudbay with an orderly shutdown before the strike, as the union believed operations would halt without its members at work.
But Hudbay said its contingency plan has allowed it to maintain production targets. Sources tell The Reminder the company is using staff people, not replacement workers, to perform the duties traditionally done by IAM members.
A Hudbay labourer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Monday that production was down during the traffic delays “but other than that, I do not think they are hurting too badly.”
But the employee said any repair job normally done by IAM members would take longer to complete with the “skeleton crew” now in place.
With the strike well into its second week, questions continue to be raised throughout the community about how much wiggle room, if any, exists in the bargaining positions of both IAM and Hudbay.
Not including other improvements, Hudbay offered IAM a three-year deal that increased wages by 10.9 per cent – an extra $1 an hour in year one, another $1.25 in year two and an additional $1.50 in year three.
IAM said it counter-proposed a $1.25 skilled trade wage adjustment on top of Hudbay’s offer, but the company rejected the request.
Winton said Monday that Hudbay remains proud of its final offer to IAM and cannot speak to how the union shares negotiation discussions with members or the public.
“From the onset of negotiations with all of our unions, we have been honest and focused on professional and business-orientated discussions,” Winton said. “All of our unions were given our financial plans for 2015 to allow all negotiating teams an understanding of our business. We presented all unions with a framework for a fair and negotiated deal that was focused on maintaining CBA [collective bargaining agreement] language, enhancing wages, enhancing pensions and enhancing benefits for our employees.”
Liquidity
Meanwhile, during a conference call last week, Hudbay president and CEO David Garofalo said the company has examined its liquidity position in potential strike scenarios.
Mentioning the company’s Constancia mine now operating in Peru, Garofalo said Hudbay does “not expect any possible strike scenario” to spell “concerns on the liquidity front,” according to a transcript of the call released by financial website Seeking Alpha.
In the same conference call, Hudbay chief operating officer Alan Hair reiterated the company’s hope that it can reconcile all issues and return to normal business.
On Monday came a sign that IAM may expect the strike to last for some time. On its website, the union gave members instructions on how to get paid out for banked wages or vacation time.
A day earlier, IAM said some of its members have accepted new jobs elsewhere, but did not say how many. The union also said other employers have been approaching members with job offers.
After Beauchamp announced an end to traffic delays on Sunday, he and wife Shelley led a march with IAM members and supporters down Main Street.
IAM has 180 members, mainly mechanics, machinists and pipefitters, who together represent 12 per cent of Hudbay’s northern Manitoba workforce.
