More than 2300 Manitoba Hydro workers are taking strike action as negotiations for a new deal continue to hit a snag.
IBEW 2034, the union representing those workers, confirmed strike action began Friday afternoon.
The initial strike action will come in the form of restrictions on standby, overtime and callouts.
Workers will refuse standby, callouts, or unscheduled overtime and will only work scheduled overtime up to a maximum of three hours on a normal workday and eight hours on a non-workday.
Hydro spokesperson Scott Powell says there is a contingency plan in place in the case of an emergency situation.
“Outage restoration times may be slower than usual,” Powell said. “The contingency plan is there to prioritize those emergency repairs and get the power back on as quickly as possible.”
Emergency work such as no power calls, pole fires, wire down, and any other essential calls will continue.
Work on streetlights, meter exchanges, residential inspections, and service extensions will be suspended.