Hudbay has cancelled its development-miner training program at the 777 and Reed mines, a move an official says responds to operational needs without laying anyone off.
The recent cancellation sent an apparently small number of trainees to positions elsewhere within the company, resulting in some other workers being bumped to different positions themselves.
Rob Winton, head of Hudbay’s Manitoba operations, said the cancellation stemmed from the completion of an optimized mine plan at 777 and the company’s development miner requirements in the near term.
“The removal of the development-miner program was not a decision taken lightly and was done to ensure we maintain a viable operation,” he said.
Winton would not confirm how many trainees were impacted. Sources put the number at only a few.
Winton responded to comments made to The Reminder by several sources within the Hudbay workforce, most of whom were concerned with how the company handled the cancellation. No one in an official union capacity could be reached for comment by press time.
Winton said there were no layoffs as a result of the move. He said 777 mine “maintains sufficient development miners to complete required development work” and the company does not intend to contract this work to outside sources.
Some workforce sources were concerned that the trainees were not permitted to transfer to Lalor mine. To that, Winton said the contractual language is “very specific as to the process to be followed and that is exactly how we handled this reduction.
“The bumping language allows employees to return to positions they held prior to their transfer to the trainee program. In this case, no employee held a position in Snow Lake and therefore no one was able to bump someone from Lalor or Stall [concentrator].”
More broadly, some sources said an unusually high number of workers have been resigning from Hudbay. Winton said there are a number of reasons for an employee to leave the company, with the majority of recent departures resulting from retirements.
Winton said Hudbay’s Manitoba operations have about 1,350 employees today. That’s slightly lower than the 1,377 workers the company reported in January 2014.
