Would “one union, one voice” serve Hudbay employees better than “seven unions, seven voices”?
That question is under fresh scrutiny after most unionized company employees signed a new contract while 180 of their colleagues remained on indefinite strike.
An official with one of the unions, speaking on the condition his name not be published, favours moving to a single union in hopes of maximizing bargaining leverage.
But the official said there is resistance from smaller unions who worry they would lose out in a merger.
A member of USW Local 7106, Hudbay’s largest union, was unaware of any formal discussions around combining the unions but said the idea is being talked about among individuals.
“The way we’re doing it now is stupid,” said the member, who asked that his name not be published because he is not an executive member. “We’re all trying to get the best deal we can and we need to have one voice.”
Hudbay employees have also taken to Facebook to discuss the concept of a lone union, with some pointing out that one union represents mining employees in Thompson.
Workers at Hudbay, formerly known as HBM&S, were at one time represented by two unions, one for trades and one for non-trades.
Now there are seven unions representing 75 per cent of a Flin Flon-Snow Lake workforce that totals 1,460 people. The remaining 25 per cent of employees are not unionized.
USW Local 7106 is by far the largest union, representing about 650 production workers outside of the trades.
IAM Local 1848, which went on strike May 2, is the second-largest union with 180 members, mostly mechanics, machinists and pipefitters.
USW Local 9338 speaks for 101 office and technical workers. Unions representing power engineers, boilermakers, carpenters and electrical workers have a combined membership of about 159 people.
It’s not clear how feasible any effort to unite the seven unions would be, nor is it apparent how much support exists for such a plan within any of the unions.
And as ratification votes so far have demonstrated, there are differing ideas among the unions about what constitutes a fair offer.
On Monday, USW Local 7106 and USW Local 9338 announced they had ratified a three-year deal with Hudbay by margins of 72 per cent and 88 per cent respectively.
IAM rejected essentially the same offer – one worth 25 cents less per hour over three years – by 96 per cent and its leadership has indicated the extra 25 cents isn’t enough to win their support.
So far, 816 Hudbay employees from the three unions have voted on a final offer from the company. If a single union spoke for those unions, Hudbay’s offer would have been accepted by a vote of 61 per cent to 39 per cent.
In other words, IAM would be so outnumbered by other union members that even its near-unanimous opposition would not sway the end result.
For that reason, some IAM members may be reluctant to join a single union.
Still, others have suggested that Hudbay may have offered a more generous deal if all of its unionized workers spoke with one voice, but that’s impossible to know.
What is known is that with both USW unions signed to the end of 2017, Hudbay operations in Flin Flon and Snow Lake appear set to continue on interrupted.
Discussions between Hudbay and three more unions – those representing electrical workers, boilermakers and carpenters – were scheduled for this week.
The power engineers’ union, which has backed a strike mandate, is scheduled to meet with the company and a conciliator the week of June 22.
As of yesterday morning, there was nothing new to report from the IAM strike.
On its website this week, IAM said while it is disappointed that the USW unions accepted Hudbay’s offer, its “fight is with Hudbay,” not other unions.
“We believe that infighting will only serve to weaken our cause and our community and we will not give Hudbay that victory,” said IAM. “Each union will eventually have the same choices IAM and USW have had to make. IAM will continue to hold the line and all we ask is for your continued support."
