Hudbay machinists have scheduled a strike vote after last week’s concilliation talks failed to address their concerns.
Workers represented by IAM Local 1848 will vote on job action March 17, with the negotiating committee recommending members support the strike option.
“We still believe a contract that addresses our members’ concerns can and will be reached,” said Rene Beauchamp, president of the union. “The fact that management will not put forward their monetary package leaves the IAM with little choice. We must do everything in our power to get management to negotiate.”
A vote in favour of a strike would not necessarily result in job action, but it would give IAM and its 190 members the option of doing so.
Beauchamp said additional concilliation meetings are scheduled for April 14. The earliest a strike could begin is April 21.
Fair deal
Rob Winton, head of Hudbay’s Manitoba operations, reiterated that the company wants a fair deal with employees.
“Conciliation is a long process and as I have stated, Hudbay is very committed to achieving a deal that is fair for our employees and ensures the business needs of Manitoba are secured,” Winton said. “We will not comment on the details of what happened [last] week [at concilliation] and are looking forward to our next scheduled meeting with the conciliator.”
A federal concilliator met with Hudbay and IAM negotiators for three days last week, leaving Beauchamp disappointed.
“It took two days to get the management negotiating team to admit they were not prepared to discuss any monetary issues,” he said. “Couple that with the fact that they will not address any of our members’ outstanding issues and we really never made much progress. Management came to conciliation with no intention of getting a deal. They still have not presented their monetary package.”
Beauchamp said IAM’s top priority is to recruit, train and retain Hudbay’s tradespeople.
“Our wages are below industry standard,” he said. “This is clearly the major hurdle for recruitment and retaining our trades. We are short approximately 30 trades [workers] right now, currently being filled by high-priced contractors. With 25 per cent of IAM’s members able to retire over the next two years, pension is a huge issue. Management has put forward no proposals to deal with these issues.”
But Winton said Hudbay “offers a competitive wage and benefits package, especially when compared to mid-tier base metal mining companies.”
IAM’s constitution allows for a strike only if two-thirds of members are in support.
IAM and the other Hudbay unions are seeking new contracts with the company. They are currently working under the terms of deals that expired on Jan. 1, 2015.
