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24 February, 2021
IBEW 2034 Strike Mandate
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
As per our communication of February 22, 2021, you are aware that IBEW 2034 is asking its members for a Strike Mandate. Despite the Negotiation Teams best efforts over the past two years, it has been unable to achieve many of the gains requested by our membership.
Since the start of negotiations, we have considered the mandate proposed by the government, and have crafted many proposals that do not violate the mandate, while offering improvements to our membership. No group at Hydro has made the sacrifices that IBEW members have been required to make. No group has been more committed to the safe and reliable delivery of our essential service.
Despite our members welfare being top of mind, over the past two years they have had to suffer a 3-day loss of pay (a 1.25% reduction). Nonetheless, Hydro has been unwilling to discuss contract improvements including the following creative union ideas:
- Because of the Corporation’s 0% financial mandate which prohibited salary increases, the union proposed adding paid time to the work day as a means of getting more money into the hands of members. Working an extra 15 minutes a day (e.g. 5 min at the start, 30-min lunch and 5 min at the end of day, or some similar arrangement) would result in approximately a 3% increase in take-home pay (albeit members would work more time).
- To make up for the disproportionate number of sick days and vacation days members have needed to self isolate etc., the union asked that some relief be considered.Manitoba Hydro has not been willing to address that IBEW members are using between 10 and 12 days more days as a result of Covid-19 than other groups. Employees fortunate to work from the safety of their homes have not had to use up that same amount of time, nor have they been subjected to the same risks and discomforts as have our members.
- Hydro has also not been willing to discuss the substantial parking increase to employees outside of Corporate Head Office.Many IBEW members have to pay for monthly parking at work while those who work at 360 Portage continue to receive a monthly parking allowance.This despite not being required to report to the office during COVID-19 for up to 11 months so far.
- Hydro has made no overtures to address the extra demands COVID-19 has made on our members, and it has been unwilling to discuss a Covid19 stipend to Front Line Workers comparable to that which has been provided to similar employees at other Crown Corporations.
- Hydro refuses to guarantee protecting members’ Pension Plan.
- Similarly, Hydro won’t guarantee no future layoffs. (Recall that 200 of our members received lay-off notices last year, while contractors continued to work).
- Hydro absolutely refuses to discuss any reduction in contracting out, or the development of a contracting out committee.
- Hydro persists in maintaining a 0% wage increase despite other groups receiving increases for the same period.
During the years 2019 and 2020 every other employee group has received a salary increase leaving only IBEW members without a financial increase during this time. To date the Corporation is only willing to make the slightest benefit increases to the smallest fractions of our membership. These improvements include:
- Northern Allowance to be provided to Summer Students (only benefits students with a primary residence north of the 53rd parallel).
- Employees who bid into training positions and fail out of a training program, will not automatically be terminated (this does not apply if they were hired directly into a training program).
- A review of bona-fide job requirements.
- An increase of 20 hours to overtime banks.
- Shift employees to be treated equally in respect to Easter Monday.
Taking these facts into consideration, the IBEW 2034 Negotiating Committee recommends voting YES on your Strike Mandate Ballot.
The strike mandate vote gives the IBEW’s Negotiating Committee the power to call a strike, if necessary, at some point in the future, but the mandate is given in the absence of a strike deadline. While a strike is not an impossibility at some point in the future, there WILL NOT be a strike immediately following a strong “YES” in the mandate vote. Although not a guarantee of success, when members vote “YES” in a strike mandate vote, the likelihood of negotiating a fair contract at the bargaining table increases substantially.
If the members do not vote YES in the mandate vote, the Bargaining Committee will continue to negotiate. But because it will have no power at the table, there will be few gains made in the contract, and Manitoba Hydro will know that it is able to impose losses to pay and benefits, and that our members will bend to its will.
Voting YES and showing strength and solidarity in our team’s resolve to get a FAIR Collective Agreement will hopefully compel Hydro to start negotiating items that are of significance to our members. To this point, all other efforts on the part of IBEW 2034 have proven fruitless.
The question you are asked to vote on is whether or not you are willing to give your Bargaining Committee a Strike mandate. Your vote will be either a YES or a NO as outlined below:
#1. YES – I give my Bargaining Team authority to call a strike, if necessary, at some point in the future.
#2. NO - I do not give My Bargaining team authority to call a strike at any point in the future.
As arming your Bargaining Team with a “strike mandate" in time for the March 3rd meeting is critical, members are asked to register their VOTE as soon as they receive the question. The deadline for voting will be 10:00 a.m. on March 2nd. Members who have not registered a personal email address with the IBEW 2034 should be encouraged to do so at their earliest opportunity in order to receive their ballot. They can do so by calling the office at 204-944-2034.
In solidarity,
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