Sounds like we may hear tomorrow. If Enbridge decides not to move ahead with the amalgamation, I think a huge blow-out street party should be held in Chatham. So no one feels uncomfortable about the optics, we can call it an “International Plowing Match Party”, but we’ll all know it’s to celebrate all the jobs and families that were spared.
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The last three Utility Integration updates sent out did not say anything meaningful. Behind the scenes through, senior management is crunching the numbers for AM and Cynthia Hansen to figure out if they can lay off enough people and complete IT projects to make integration worthwhile.
AM and CH are bean counters with no empathy for employees. They view employees as numbers not assets. My advice is plan for the worst (layoff) or be proactive and find another job. Expect more employees to bail from the sinking ship that is Enbridge.
Union Gas has a terrific employee culture that is sorely lacking at EGD and Enbridge. Enbridge is already starting to poach top performers from UG as it cannot manage major projects and safety on its own without screwing things up.
Typical Enbridge culture. Left hand has no idea whatsoever what the right hand is doing. As expected this disfunction starts at the top
Yesterday SB said that going with MAADs was likely, but that a final decision hadn’t been made yet (this was said at the birthday breakfast in Chatham). If AM said something different the day before, that’s pretty lame
So AM says that amalgamation is happening yesterday at the lunch with ELT at EGD and nothing has been communicated to all employees. WTF?
Merger is happening. Good luck.
I don't have access to any special info, but my own opinion is that the two utilities are f---ed no matter what they do now. If they move ahead with MAADs, there isn't much financial upside and the decision on the capital pass-through would make most capital investments undesirable. On the other hand, if UG and EGD try to get separate IRs now, there's nothing stoping the Board from demanding efficiencies that could only be achieved by combining things. I suspect they may go with MAADs but not do much over the five years, then try for something better later. Or, they could just sell Union Gas -- we've seen now the two utilities can probably make the shareholders more money on their own. Having a new owner for UG is one of the rare situations where I would 100% rather have the devil I don't know than the devil I do. Enbridge can s--- my balls...
The go/no go decision is taking a long time. They got no where near what they asked for and have provided 3 updates that said absolutely nothing about how/what it means. Poor communication from the top yet again. It’s like they don’t realize that thousands of employees are on pins and needles.
Lol be real shared services are not just IT and finance. Almost every job can be shared service. Amalgation or not there will be deep cuts to both companies to pay for the purchase. Selling off assets is only one of a few options a company has, layoffs reductions of benefits and selling junk bonds are others.
Do not underestimate how cold hearted and ruthless Enbridge is. By now your name is either on the list or it’s not. Your off boarding paperwork is signed Check your people leaders body language you’ll know.
They already have the sad-faced Al photo cued up with his trite comments written for him. Wish you all the best my Canadian friends.
I’ll consider it a victory if I don’t have to work for a company with Enbridge as the name.
No matter what the decision on the amalgamation is, there will still be the threat to "shared services".