Hudbay’s largest union has ratified an offer from the company, averting a work stoppage that would have crippled mining in Flin Flon-Snow Lake and thrust the regional economy into uncertainty.
By a margin of 72 per cent, members of USW Local 7106 accepted a three-year contract that includes higher wages, a better pension and language improvements.
But Tom Davie, president of Local 7106, was frustrated by Hudbay’s approach to bargaining.
“The results are the results. The only thing I really have to say is I guess the bully won,” he said, speaking Monday afternoon shortly after the results were announced.
Davie said Local 7106 negotiators recommended the offer to members “under threat” of a lockout if they refused.
But members, who work in production, would have also been out of work had the offer been rejected, as Davie said a strike was planned with no further discussions scheduled.
The same offer presented in a less threatening manner might have made it “more palatable,” he said.
“Also, if our brothers and sisters [from the striking IAM Local 1848 union] weren’t on the picket line right now, it might be a little easier to swallow,” Davie said.
“I just think it’s a tough pill to swallow when we’ve got brothers and sisters on the picket line and Hudbay refuses to talk to them. It shows the arrogance of this company.”
Second union signs
USW Local 9338, which represents 101 office and technical workers (not 115 as previously reported), also ratified Hudbay’s offer, meaning about 67 per cent of the company’s unionized employees are under contract until December 31, 2017.
Rob Winton, vice-president, Manitoba Business Unit for Hudbay, said the results mean company operations can continue on.
“[Both] USW [unions] were legally able to strike and Hudbay was in a legal position to lock out either union if the deals were not ratified,” he said.
“The results of each union’s vote allow operations in Manitoba to continue, which is positive news for the 1,280 employees who want to continue working,” said Winton, referring to the number of Hudbay workers not on strike.
Winton congratulated negotiators for Local 7106, Local 9338 and Hudbay for their unanimous recommendation and “combined efforts during this process.”
He said he looks forward to working with both unions in the coming years.
Local 7106’s ratification vote, held in Flin Flon and Snow Lake for three days ending Monday, brought out 88.5 per cent of the union’s approximately 650 members.
That means about 575 members voted on the offer, with 414 in favour and 161 against.
Davie stressed that he was not disappointed with his membership.
“We had a mandate to bring something back to our members and we did everything we had to to do that,” he said, “and our members spoke and we’re happy that our membership has given us this guidance.”
The vote means members of both USW unions will receive an extra $4 an hour over three years, consisting of $1 in 2015, $1.75 in 2016 and $1.25 in 2017.
For Local 7106 members, that amounts to a 15 per cent raise if not more, depending on a worker’s current wage.
Sources told The Reminder the offer also adds another $5.50 per month of service to a worker’s pension. For a worker retiring after 30 years of service, that’s an extra $165 a month, according to Reminder calculations.
Davie said Local 7106 believes the majority of its contractual language concerns were addressed in the offer, but he is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“I guess we’ll find out pretty quick because we’re going to start implementing some of that language as far as our grievance procedure,” he said, “and we’ll find out if we made the right decision.”
Local 7106 and Hudbay ended negotiations apart on financial issues, but Davie did not comment on the specifics.
“The more we make, the more we spend in our community – and that’s the truth,” he said.
Fierce debate
When results of the Local 7106 vote became public shortly before 4 pm on Monday, social media lit up with fierce debate.
Some Hudbay employees and non-employees were critical of members who backed the offer, while others said they could not afford to strike and that the offer is fair.
Some felt Local 7106 had a duty to reject the offer in solidarity with IAM, while others believed each union’s individual decision must be respected. IAM later said on its website that its “fight is with Hudbay,” not other unions.
What was indisputable is that Local 7106 members waded through a barrage of information in deciding how to cast their ballots.
During the three tense days of voting, rumours circulated throughout Hudbay and the Flin Flon area about what a work stoppage involving Local 7106 might mean.
Some workers worried the Flin Flon zinc plant, if shut down, might not restart, though Hudbay has said nothing of the sort publicly.
Others were concerned that a stoppage would deter Hudbay from investing in exploration and infrastructure in the region given that it is no longer exclusively reliant on northern Manitoba.
A common account that made the rounds likened Hudbay’s threat of a lockout to holding a gun to Local 7106’s head, but one member said the union had its own loaded gun in the form of a strike threat, making the issue a wash.
For its part, IAM had actively encouraged Local 7106 members to reject the offer, saying it wasn’t good enough.
“Together we will make this company listen,” IAM said on its website last week, two days before ratification voting began. “We will get what is fair and what we deserve.”
Difficult
Davie agreed this was one of the most difficult bargaining sessions and ratification votes Local 7106 has experienced.
“It was long but at the end of the day the membership got what they wanted and we’ll move on,” he said.
While he would not elaborate, Davie said this round of negotiations will change how Local 7106 approaches bargaining next time around.
“We will definitely have a different game plan going into the next round of bargaining and that’s all I’m going to comment on,” he said.
As for IAM, whose members have been on strike since May 2, the union said its negotiators met with a federal conciliator last Friday, May 29, to explore ways of resolving the impasse.
“Unfortunately his efforts were unsuccessful in resolving any of our issues and we have not found any common ground,” the union said on its website, adding that the meeting was initiated by the conciliator himself.
Davie said IAM has treated Local 7106 “very good” during this “tough time.”
Local 7106 and Local 9338 had been working under the terms of contracts that expired on January 1, 2015. The new deal is retroactive to that date.
Second union accepts
A second Hudbay union, USW Local 9338, announced Monday it had accepted the company’s three-year offer by a margin of 88 per cent.
Steve Collins, president of Local 9338, said the offer provides “fairly substantial” raises to members depending on their job classification.
“I’m not saying that we wouldn’t have liked to get more – we were asking for more and we were asking for a lot more non-monetary items as well,” Collins said. “But we took this back to our membership as…[what Hudbay’s] final offer was, so that’s what we voted on.”
Local 9338 has 101 members, not 115 as previously reported. Ratification votes held last Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30 saw an 83 per cent turnout, meaning 74 members were in favour and 10 were opposed.
A member of Local 9338 said the union was offered the same deal as Local 7106.
With both USW unions now under contract, Hudbay said negotiations with the four other non-striking unions will continue this month.
Discussions with three 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 Hudbay and a conciliator the week of June 22.
