A marathon concilliation session between Hudbay and IAM Local 1848 stretched well past midnight Monday but failed to bring the two sides closer together, says the union’s vice-president.
“[We] went till 3 am and got nowhere,” Blair Sapergia said yesterday morning.
Rob Winton, vice-president, Manitoba Business Unit for Hudbay, confirmed the talks went until 3 am but did not offer any details.
“Negotiations [are] a process with many iterations and the ups and downs of the discussions are best left at the table,” Winton said.
“I have full confidence [in] my negotiating team to achieve an agreement and support their continued efforts.”
As of early yesterday afternoon, it was not clear when further talks might take place, though IAM had not announced strike plans.
Unwilling
On its website, IAM said Hudbay was unwilling to offer further wage increases. For certified IAM members, the company has offered hourly raises of $1 in year one, $1.25 in year two and $1.50 in year three, a 10.9 per cent increase.
“All that could be done is moving the $1.50 increase from the third year into the second,” the union said. “This is unacceptable.”
IAM said Hudbay has, however, agreed to maintain language in the health plan as is. The union said the proposed changes were an attempt to reduce benefits, a claim Hudbay strongly denied.
IAM further detailed how talks on apprentice pay failed to meet its criteria, and how changes to the grievance procedure and Hudbay’s use of contractors went unaddressed.
“These were all verbal discussion and we never received any written documentation from Hudbay,” the union said. “This is where we now stand.”
Monday marked the third time Hudbay and IAM met with a concilliator during negotiations to replace a contract that expired on January 1, 2015.
At one point in the back-and-forth last week, IAM suggested a 3.43 per cent decline in Hudbay’s stock price related to the thus-far failed negotiations.
However, that 3.43 per cent decline on Tuesday, April 21, was followed by cumulative increases of 13.48 per cent over the next four trading days.
That said, a financial analyst told The Reminder that if Hudbay’s Constancia mine in Peru encounters hiccups, and those hiccups are compounded by labour unrest in Manitoba, there could be an impact on the stock price.
Another point of debate appears to be the Constancia mine.
Whereas IAM has said Manitoba is Hudbay’s only moneymaker, the company announced that Constancia is now shipping copper concentrate and was expected to hit full production as early as this week.
Meanwhile, Hudbay says it is trying to secure new contracts not only with IAM, but the six other unions at the company.
IAM has a strike mandate following a March vote involving most of its 190 members. None of the other unions have held a strike vote.
