Buses to help workers avoid picket-induced lineups and reports of falling production at 777 mine are among the latest developments from the partial strike at Hudbay.
Over the weekend, Hudbay began chartering buses for non-striking employees to board at various points throughout Flin Flon, several workers told The Reminder.
The workers said they were told they will receive their usual pay if they take the bus and swipe their ID card once aboard.
If they decide to drive to work on their own and are late swiping in, they will be deducted for the tardiness, they said.
The charter bus began its route on Saturday, the workers said, with pickups in Flin Flon only, not Creighton or Denare Beach.
That was four days after Hudbay and the striking IAM Local 1848 union came to terms on a strike protocol agreement.
The agreement lets IAM picketers delay vehicles entering Hudbay properties, but only for five minutes per vehicle and only as long as all motorists in line are allowed to enter within 30 minutes.
Production
Meanwhile, a miner at Flin Flon’s 777 mine told The Reminder on Sunday that production was “very low” compared to its usual level.
“From taking six to eight rounds in four days [it’s] now two to three in four days,” said the miner, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The miner said the shift bosses in Flin Flon who have been filling in for IAM members are “chasing the end of a list that keeps piling up” and that they “hope this can end as soon as possible.”
Other workers have said production is down, at least in Flin Flon, since the IAM strike began on May 2, but they couldn’t hazard a guess as to how much.
One employee, a surface worker who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he expected things to pick up now that IAM’s ability to delay incoming vehicles has been restricted.
But he added there would likely still be longer waits when equipment that would normally be fixed by IAM members requires
maintenance.
Rob Winton, head of Hudbay’s Manitoba operations, said Monday that employees “continue to perform very well” during the partial strike.
“Safe production continues at all of our operations with dedicated groups of employees and management,” Winton said. “The effort and skill of the tradespeople inside our operations is absolutely impressive and a testament of the dedication they have for Hudbay and their communities.”
IAM is arguing that 11 on-site contractors utilized by Hudbay should be considered replacement workers.
IAM vice-president Blair Sapergia said last week that workers from three contracting companies are doing work normally performed by IAM members.
Hudbay countered that legislation and all of the company’s collective agreements allow for contract services in specific circumstances.
On target
In terms of output, Hudbay has said it remains on target to meet production targets.
In order to meet its 2015 targets in Manitoba, Hudbay must exceed last year’s zinc production by at least 15 per cent and last year’s copper production by at least six per cent.
Production of precious metals can fall by as much as 0.8 per cent and remain on target.
It’s also possible that if Hudbay’s Constancia copper mine in Peru exceeds expectations, increased output could make up for any lost production in northern Manitoba (though Constancia does not produce zinc).
Elsewhere, much of the broader media coverage around Hudbay has been focused not on the partial strike in Manitoba, but on ongoing commercial production at Constancia.
Constancia is not impacted by a national mine strike in Peru. Hudbay does not currently have unionized employees at Constancia, but its major contractor, Stracon, does.
However, Stracon unions are not part of a nationwide strike at mines across Peru that began on Monday, Hudbay spokesman Daniel Weinerman said.
Even copper mines in Peru that do have members of the striking unions were not seriously impacted by the job action because some workers went to work anyway and companies used replacement workers, Reuters reported.
Back in northern Manitoba, Hudbay’s largest union, United Steelworkers Local 7106, was scheduled to hold a strike mandate vote in Flin Flon yesterday and will do so in Snow Lake today.
In addition, United Steelworkers Local 9338, representing about 120 unionized staff people, is scheduled to hold a strike mandate vote tomorrow.
If the votes carry, both unions will have the right to go on strike if they reject Hudbay’s final contract offer.
On Monday came some positive news for Hudbay as 18 analysts who cover the company reached a consensus recommendation for investors: buy.
Reporting on that development was Analyst Ratings Network (ARN), a digital publishing company that supplies investors with real-time financial information.
Train delay
As previously reported, last week saw IAM members picket a Hudbay-bound freight train whose engineer halted the locomotive for about two hours until RCMP arrived.
“Our officers attended. The train stopped for safety reasons,” said RCMP spokesman Bert Paquet. “The RCMP did not tell or ask anyone to leave and the train continued on its way.”
Asked whether the right to protest, as protected by the RCMP, applies to picketing an oncoming train, Paquet said several factors come into play.
Those factors include whether the property is public or private and the precise distance of the protestors from the tracks, he said.
