IAM Local 1848 and Hudbay have often disagreed during the union’s ongoing strike, but following a meeting Monday night they concurred on one thing: the situation remains at an impasse.
Rene Beauchamp, IAM president, gave The Reminder the following statement on Tuesday afternoon:
“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.”
In response, Winton told The Reminder 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 last night (Monday). 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the union executive presented the company with a new list of language demands, including some that had previously been withdrawn by the union and some that were new and had not been discussed before.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.”
Later on Tuesday, IAM responded to Winton's comments, denying that its contractual goals had changed.
On the union's website, IAM member Kenny Oliynyk wrote that the union proposed changes such as a new system to speed up grievances and to "assist" the company in recruiting new employees.
Hudbay was not interested, he wrote, and all the company left on the table was the same strike settlement offer IAM overwhelmingly rejected in late June.
"We would only receive the offer with a recommendation from our [bargaining] Committee," Oliynyk wrote.
IAM has now scheduled another general membership meeting for Wednesday at 4 pm.
The six other unions at Hudbay have agreed to an extra $4 an hour over three years. IAM initially hoped to negotiate a higher raise, arguing its members are paid below industry standard.
Hudbay’s use of contractors and the length of grievances are two long-standing concerns for IAM, which represents machinists, mechanics and pipefitters, among other workers who make up about 12 per cent of Hudbay’s Flin Flon-Snow Lake workforce.
Last week, Oliynyk posted on IAM's website that Hudbay, according to information obtained by the union, had brought “scab mechanics” to Flin Flon.
The union believed there were eight mechanics and two supervisors from an Ontario-based mining contractor.
The Reminder will have more on both of these strike developments online and in print.
