Dear Editor,
Interesting article in The Reminder (“Hudbay to carry on as IAM strikes,” May 1).
I understand that journalism should try and stay neutral, unbiased and factual, although sometimes you are not given the facts, only partial facts made to look like 100 per cent facts. With that said, fair article.
I want to say that voting and the possibility of striking is democracy. You remember democracy, right? That process we had before Harper.
The fact that people are able to vote on their livelihood and jobs is law; it's not a negative thing, it’s constitutional and law. Although the outcomes may not be favourable, it's still a right.
The first thing I’d like to address in the article are the statistics on “profits.” Yes, no doubt the profits shown comparing Hudbay do paint a picture that can correlate to wages.
Then why did Hudbay give salary increases to their management based on these other companies? Answer: Because we are not at industry standard wages.
Going back to the profits, though, how many of those companies invested over a billion dollars into project like Hudbay did? Those dollars would have been considered profits if they hadn’t.
Tolko in The Pas, for example, is on a semi-permanent closure, yet they still pay industry standard wages. I know because I negotiated their contract.
My next point is probably the hotter topic. Rob Winton of Hudbay stating, “We will be very disappointed if (IAM’s) actions end up causing permanent damage to the communities of Flin Flon and Snow Lake” raises all sorts of red flags for me.
What does this mean? If a group of people that work for me, creating my income, don’t listen to me, there will be repercussions on the communities? In that context it sounds like a threat.
Or does it mean that if the two months and countless thousands of dollars Hudbay has spent preparing “contingency plans” doesn’t work and the zinc plant does not continue to run, he will simply blame a group of people who unanimously, democratically and legally enacted their right to benefit themselves, their families and these communities?
If the “contingency plan” doesn’t work for Hudbay and THEY choose to close down a portion of THEIR operations, then I don’t know how you can blame the workers. I’d see it as a failure to properly manage.
Yes, a strike will affect the communities, but I guarantee that if the employees at Hudbay were treated with respect and dignity, and paid and compensated at industry standards, then these communities would thrive.
Matt Winterton
Creighton
