Hydro temporarily laying off up to 700 workers; union leaders lash out at premier By: Carol Sanders Posted: 1:22 PM CDT Monday, May. 11, 2020 Last Modified: 9:19 PM CDT Monday, May. 11, 2020 Updates

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After saying last year further staff cuts would jeopardize worker safety and customer service, Manitoba Hydro announced Monday it will issue four-month layoff notices to up to 700 employees, starting as early as the end of this week.

The utility had “no other choice” in order to find the savings the Manitoba government asked for in mid-April to support its pandemic response, Hydro president and CEO Jay Grewal said in an email to employees.

The temporary layoffs will be implemented following the provisions of existing collective bargaining agreements, Grewal said in her update to employees about the effort to find $86 million in cost reductions and labour savings.

“Since mid-April, we’ve gone through every part of this organization looking for opportunities to reduce or eliminate discretionary and non-essential spending,” she wrote.

The utility has been able to find more than $63 million of the needed cost reductions and another $12 million by not filling vacant or seasonal positions. That left the Hydro about $11 million, or 13 per cent, short of what the province required, she said. 

Hydro worked with unions to find ways to meet the target but couldn’t reach “common ground” on how to do that, she said.

The Crown corporation’s executive leadership team will be working with directors and managers to identify employees critical to short-term business needs and service delivery to decide on the layoffs, she said.

“This is a direction I sincerely hoped to avoid,” Grewal’s message to employees said.

Last September, she sent a message reassuring them that Hydro had already achieved the staffing-reduction targets set out earlier by the provincial government, and layoffs weren’t imminent.

A year ago, when the province asked Hydro and other Crown corporations to cut management staff by 15 per cent and their overall workforce by eight per cent, company spokesman Bruce Owen said any further staff cuts would be risky. 

“We believe that further staff reductions would significantly increase the risk of public and employee safety, of system reliability… as well as our ability to provide reasonable levels of service to our customers,” Owen told the Free Press last May. In the preceding two years, Hydro had cut staff by 872 positions, or 14 per cent.

When asked about more layoffs Monday, Owen said that all aspects of the electricity and natural gas system will “continue to operate as before” and public and employee safety will not be compromised due to reduced staff levels.

“However, it’s expected there will be some impact on service levels during the layoff period,” he said in a statement. “It’s difficult to speculate, but it could include longer wait times for service requests such as line locates and service extensions, reduced customer communications and, potentially, more frequent outages of longer duration due to reduced staff.”

“Pallister’s cuts are not to support the fight against COVID-19, they are purely political. This will be devastating.” – Michelle Bergen

Unions representing staff lashed out after learning of the layoff notices.

With Hydro operating at full capacity during the pandemic, the layoffs are “reckless” and Premier Brian Pallister is to blame, said the president of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 998.

“Pallister has had his eyes on our public Hydro since he was elected in 2016,” said Michelle Bergen. “Pallister’s cuts are not to support the fight against COVID-19, they are purely political. This will be devastating.”

The affected unions said in a joint release that Hydro found temporary savings in other areas and would have been able to deliver nearly all the demanded savings over four months, but Pallister insisted on job cuts.

Cuts will put Hydro in a “dangerous position,” said Mike Espenell, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2034 business manager.

“We are working full-tilt and using safe practices during the pandemic. We are doing our part, coming to work every day. This pandemic could be a lot worse to handle if Manitobans in care, at home, at work and in industry have to wait longer for service because of Pallister’s reckless cuts.”

The unions argue there’s no room left for more job cuts after downsizing and a two-year wage freeze.

“We have already been cut to the bone — Hydro’s annual payroll cost has been going down for four years,” said Victor Diduch, acting president of Unifor Local 681. “It makes no sense to hammer workers — all that does is compromise our public hydro and gas service, and take money away from families who are trying to get through this crisis,” said Diduch.

Crown Services Minister Jeff Wharton was not made available for an interview but spokeswoman Caitlin MacGregor said fighting COVID-19 and protecting “our most valuable service — our health-care system” is the government’s No. 1 priority — not cutting jobs or privatizing Hydro.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew accused the province of using the pandemic to justify layoffs, and “setting the stage” for privatizing the utility.

Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont accused the Pallister government of plundering Hydro’s revenues to make up for its mismanagement of government finances, “just as the NDP did.” 

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

After 20 years of reporting on the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home, Carol moved to the legislature bureau in early 2020.

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