Striking IAM Local 1848 members have a choice Monday: continue to strike or accept an offer their bargaining team calls substandard.
On Thursday night, IAM and Hudbay came to terms on what the union called a strike settlement offer and the company called a tentative agreement.
While IAM members in Flin Flon and Snow Lake will vote on the offer on Monday, the IAM bargaining team is recommending they reject the deal and hold out for something more generous.
“The offer is far below our expectations and does not resolve any of our major concerns to our satisfaction,” IAM told members on its website Friday morning. “Your negotiating team is not recommending this offer but we must ascertain the direction our membership will take us moving forward.”
Details of the offer were not immediately available.
IAM is the only Hudbay union that has not signed a new contract. The union representing 18 company power engineers ratified an offer Thursday night by a margin of 94 per cent.
Word of the pending IAM vote first broke on The Reminder’s website at 12:30 am Friday after sources shared a copy of an email sent to Hudbay employees by company management.
The email, which went out shortly before 10 pm Thursday, advised employees of changes to entrances and picket lines as a result of the tentative agreement.
“Please be respectful and patient as the IAM works to ratify the tentative agreement,” read the email.
In its email, Hudbay said the IAM picket lines were expected to remain in place until a ratification vote has taken place.
The company said IAM had agreed not to stop vehicles entering or exiting company operations.
As well, parking lot entrances via the Whitney Forum and the hospital are now open and can be used during the next few days for employees who enter through the main gate, the email said.
“Thank you for your hard work, patience and dedication during the last few months,” concluded the email, signed by "Hudbay Management."
IAM, which represents 180 tradespeople, mainly mechanics, machinists and pipefitters, has been on strike since May 2.
The Reminder will continue to follow this story online and in print.
