Initial offer still adequate, Hydro One CEO tells reporters
TORONTO, ONTARIO - Hydro One President and CEO Tom Parkinson joked and talked tough about striking employees as they protested outside his speech at the Toronto Board of Trade recently.
"Sometimes we go through these things to count our blessings and find out how good we had it," Parkinson told a business audience who had squeezed past about 100 union protestors to hear him. Hydro One is Ontario's electricity transmission and distribution company. Parkinson was talking at a breakfast meeting of the Board of Trade about the future of power in the province.
Over 1,000 Hydro One scientists, accountants, IT specialists, auditors, engineers, electricity system planners and supervisors represented by the Society of Energy Professionals have been on strike since June 6 and without a contract since March 31. The main point of conflict between Hydro One and its employees is management's proposal to pay new hires less than current employees.
The protesters waved signs and chanted outside the ground floor elevator lobby providing access to the Board of Trade's third and fourth floor offices.
Some sat handing out flyers. A few striking CBC employees from Canadian Media Guild also took part in the protest.
Parkinson presented Hydro One's financial results for the past year, took responsibility for the company's past mistakes and inadequate distribution system, emphasized the need to focus on future electricity delivery and called for reform in the province's glacial approval process for new projects.
Throughout, the employees were never far from his thoughts, but jokes about topics such as "unexpected labour cost savings" elicited few chuckles.
After his speech, Parkinson told reporters he thought the company's initial offer was good and he hoped the employees would return to work soon.
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