Some front-line Manitoba Hydro workers begin striking Tuesday afternoon

Manitoba Hydro says some of its front-line workers walked out of the job and began a strike on Tuesday afternoon.

The Crown corporation says ittabled a formal offer to the theInternational Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2034, which represents 2,300 workers,in the hopes of successfully concluding contract negotiations, but it was rejected.

The offer followed 28 months of negotiations, most recently with the helpof a conciliator, while abiding by the financial mandates provided to Manitoba Hydro by the provincial government, the utility said.

In an internal email to union members, IBEWsaid thewithdrawal of services will be in place until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday,or unless notified otherwise.

Manitoba Hydro spokesperson Bruce Owen says there is a plan in place to ensure lights stay on.

The public utility has developed and implemented contingency plans to help ensure emergency and essential services, as well as public safety, are maintained throughout any labour disruption.

However, because there's a major storm going throughwestern Manitoba and that could cause major power outages, MikeEspenell,IBEW Local 2034 business manager, says the union will not pull emergency restoration services during the time.

Manitoba Hydro says it offered IBEW members a three-year contract witha0.75 per centwage increase in the third year retroactive to Jan. 1, 2021.

The contract promised that no IBEW employee would be subject to layoff should theirposition be eliminated as a direct result of the contracting out of the work normally performed by that employee for the fiscal year ending March 2022.

It also promised a one-time allocation of 80 hours to sick leave balances for IBEW front-line workers who worked at least 30 per cent of their time in the field in the last fiscal year, in light of the impact of COVID-19.

Forced pay cut last year

Espenell said members were required to take a 1.25 per cent pay cut last year.

"We're the only front-line workers that have been required to take a rollback. Other groups certainly recently have achieved stiff ends and things of that nature. But for the most part, we're just looking for parity with some of the other groups."

On Sunday, Espenell saidsome of the sticking points for workers have been guarantees for pensions, reassurances there won't belayoffs and increases in benefits over time.

The unionrepresents Hydro's front-line employeessuch asworkers atgenerating stations and on transmission lines. Itprovided the utility with a 48-hour strike notificationon Sunday.

The workers represented by IBEW Local 2034 have worked without a contractwith Manitoba Hydro since 2018.

Espenell saidstriking employees will be outside three different Manitoba Hydro buildings Wednesday.

Province ordered wage freezes

In the fall, the province asked Hydro to freeze thewages of IBEW employees for two years, saying the"reset" is necessary while it copes with "dramatically falling revenues" and a "very large deficit" anticipatedfor2020-21, because of the pandemic.

The government saidit is within their purview to set bargaining mandates for the public sector.

At the time, Espenell slammed the government's proposal,since union members tookthree unpaid days off to avoid temporary layoffs for some members early oninthe pandemic.

The wage freeze request comesdespite a court decision last summer thatstruck downgovernment legislationthat soughtto keep wages the same for more than 100,000public sector workers for two years.

The province is appealing thatdecision.

The last time Manitoba Hydro employees went on strike was in more than 10 years ago.

In October of 2009, IBEW members were on strike for a week after negotiations broke down. The employees wereseeking higher salaries and a shorter contract term.

IBEW is the largest bargaining unit for employees at Hydro.