Striking Hudbay tradespeople say they withdrew their proposal for a better raise this week, but it wasn’t enough to resolve an impasse in negotiations to end the work stoppage.
With the help of a conciliator and the IAM Local 1848 union’s international representative, the two sides went back to the bargaining table this past Monday, August 10.
Following a marathon session that IAM said stretched into the wee hours of the morning, union president Rene Beauchamp provided the following statement to The Reminder:
“We met with Hudbay [Monday] night as requested by Mr. [Rob] Winton, [vice-president, Manitoba Business Unit for Hudbay]. We removed the extra money off the table. The company refused to discuss our language issues on the grievance procedure and contracting out. There are no further meetings scheduled. We’re currently at an impasse.”
As IAM member Kenny Oliynyk later put it on the union’s website: “We traded money with the hope of language changes.”
Offered a chance to respond to Beauchamp’s statement, Winton said the following:
“After the IAM’s meeting last week, their International Rep reached out to the conciliation officer inquiring about meeting if they removed monetary demands from the discussion. We agreed to meet with the conciliator present and did so [Monday] night. At this meeting, the union executive presented the company with a new list of language demands, including some that had previously been withdrawn by the union and some that were new and had not been discussed before.
“Although resolution of the monetary items seemed possible, the union’s changing language created a stumbling block due to its intended goal of removing Hudbay’s ability to operate our business. There was not sufficient common ground to resume discussions and an impasse was declared.”
After Winton’s statement appeared in an online Reminder article Tuesday, Oliynyk posted a response on IAM’s site, denying the union had changed its proposals.
“Our issues have remained the same from the very beginning,” he wrote, adding that Winton’s statement to the contrary was “nothing more than a smokescreen to try discredit the IAM at the bargaining table in the eyes of the public.”
When asked by Hudbay what would warrant a contract recommendation from IAM’s bargaining committee, Oliynyk wrote, the union put forth a handful of proposals:
• A new system to speed up the grievance process.
• Changes to contractual language so Hudbay would bring pending contracts to monthly meetings for discussion before they are tendered.
• Allowing IAM to assist Hudbay in recruiting new employees, replenishing the union’s “dwindling membership” and limiting the number of contractors “filling [IAM] positions.”
• A joint apprenticeship program to help Hudbay with recruitment.
Hudbay was not interested, Oliynyk wrote, and all the company left on the table was the same strike settlement offer IAM members overwhelmingly rejected in late June.
“We would only receive the offer with a recommendation from our [bargaining] Committee,” he added.
The latest failed negotiations come as IAM accuses Hudbay of bringing to Flin Flon “scab mechanics” from an Ontario-based contractor.
Sources within Hudbay’s workforce tell The Reminder that the company plans to boost production to pre-strike levels starting September 1 – with or without IAM.
Asked about that information, Winton reiterated the company’s plan to meet production guidance targets in 2015.
“To this end, Hudbay Manitoba is making the necessary improvements to our processes to allow for the successful deliver of our targets,” he said.
IAM has long identified the length of the grievance process and Hudbay’s use of contractors as both major concerns and a rationale for the strike.
IAM negotiators were initially displeased with Hudbay’s latest offer to boost wages by $4 an hour over three years, arguing members would still be underpaid compared to their counterparts at other companies.
However, one IAM member, speaking to The Reminder on the condition of anonymity, said that for some members, contractual language, not money, has always been the real issue.
IAM began the strike on May 2 with 180 members. Through retirements and relocations, the union had 161 members as of June 29.
IAM represents heavy-duty and industrial mechanics, machinists, pipefitters, tire techs and oilers. Theirs is the third mining strike in Flin Flon since the community was founded.
