The union has been given a strike mandate by their membership to be effective Tuesday.  Union Vice-President Blair Sapergia told City Council last week negotiations have gone nowhere.  Hudbay Vice-President of the Manitoba Business Unit Rob Winton says they have reached the point where they can finalize wording in the language demands the union brought to the table and move on to monetary discussions.  He explains they were really willing to discuss monetary and the union had chosen to bring a lot of demands to the table and that process took a while to get to a place where he believes they can finalize that discussion about the wording and the language that is held within the IAM C.B.A. and really start to focus on what most people would consider most important and certainly would touch every union member as the monetary discussions about benefits and pensions.

Winton says at the end of the day they want an agreement that’s mutually beneficial in ensuring the company’s future and fair to all the employees they have at Hudbay, the management and Board of Directors.