Thread regarding Enbridge Inc. layoffs

I think the gas utility could be around for a long time if it has progressive leaders and a parent company that will let us develop new lines of business. But that doesn't seem to be our current situation. Although new lines of business got a mention in CH's latest note, there are barely any staff devoted to those ideas and Corporate doesn't seem to understand or want to fund that stuff because they can make a better return on their usual run of the mill oil and gas sh--. Personally, I'm shifting my job search from casual to serious in the new year...life is too short to work for Enbridge.

I sense a lot of emotion in these posts. People are scared and angry and maybe a little self-righteous, but none of that is going to matter. EGD has a lot of good people, UG has a lot of good people - there will not be enough positions for all of them and both companies have their fair share of unproductive people that will find jobs in the new Company when this is all over.

Somebody told me about 7 years ago that the company’s (EGD) direction is to tear everything down to the bones, and then start staffing back up where the biggest fires are. That’s exactly what’s happened. I would caution UG people to expect something similar, and not to hang their future on empty compliments and platitudes from our Sr Management. We’ve been choking and on that BS for over a decade and let me tell you something: it tastes bad and has exactly zero nutritional value. You (we) all work for a company that is acting like a business should act in an industry that is dying. Mergers and consolidation don’t happen in agile young industries or rapidly growing industries... it happens in mature and aging industries when capital investment stops yielding significant returns. Back in the housing boom of the aughts, EGD was adding almost 70,000 customers a year. Now our target for the merged entity is 50,000. Electric vehicles and other alternatives are impacting the oil industry with supply gluts compounding, demand weakening and profits squeezing. The world is changing around us. If you can’t do anything except work for the gas utility, start developing skills. If you can you should already be looking for somewhere else to do it.

In 10 years the only people left will be those overseeing the gradual wind-down of the centralized energy industry as it stagnates into the middle of the century and eventually dies a slow death, riddled with the cancer of stagnation without the life breath of innovation that will overwhelm it’s ability to remain relevant.

I understand UG has been through many purchases and mergers but never with another (bigger) distribution company right next door. This isn't liquid diversifying or US buying into a wider North American market. This is different and things will never be the same I'm afraid. Whoever said to stop picking at each other is absolutely right. To the UG employee who said "EGD workforce had become engorged and complacent" ... you don't have a clue and your comment is just plain insulting. Lots of very, very good people were let go in 2015, 2016 and 2018. EGD has been through it in spades. Sorry, but it's coming your way now.

The Enbridge merger has been like no other. During my 20 years at UGL I was involved in the West Coast merger, the Centra Gas amalgamation, the Union Energy spin off, the Duke merger, and the Spectra spin off. Maintaining staff integrity had always been the key to those successful transitions. I remember how proud my parent were when I told them I was offered a position at UGL as they were known for hiring the best and treating staff with respect. Even without the UGL brand and leadership, there is still something great to be reclaimed. Like other staff who have left since this most recent merger, SB will continue a successful career with renewed vigour. We thank him and wish him the very best.

Again as someone who went through this before, you can try all you want to maintain the UG culture. But it will all be in vain.

When Enb took over Consumers Gas the saying was that either you were on the bus or you were not. Those who were not are gone and a prime example is the People’s President GB who was not on the bus.

Sorry but you have to try your best to adjust the new reality or seek employment elsewhere. Not trying to be an id--t. Just speaking from experience.

Accurate analogy.

Aggression and thinly disguised bullying maintained through intimidation and secrecy.

Keep your mouth shut or you’re out. No room for dissension here. Be submissive if you want to work here.

Ouch. It hurts.

So much truth to these posts.

AM and CH are toxic.

The bullying culture they’ve created at Enbridge makes me think of the culture we’ve been hearing about at St. Michael’s College School in Toronto.

Keep the secrets or suffer the consequences.

But some day the secrets will be revealed.

Consumers Gas was probably a lot like Union Gas and were a company that cared. Our outgoing president is all about people whereas Enbridge is all about the $$$$$. So much for 106 years of goodwill, customer satisfaction and trust. That's headed for the sewer in the name of the almighty buck.

We can try to turn around the culture but there's no guarantee that Enbridge corporate will not meddle into our affairs. Many UG employees have already reached out to their EGD counterparts and are trying really hard to make this merger work. Happy employees are productive employees who respond well to direction not "my way or the highway approach. "

So much truth in these posts. EGD maintained some semblance from the Consumers Gas days until the people’s president retired (probably because he knew what was coming). The culture & morale nosedived after that. So EGD people around long enough (15+ years) know exactly how the UG folks are feeling.

I was a long term Enbridge employee. I was there when It was Consumers Gas. I interacted with counterparts at Union back then. At that time they were very similar companies sharing similar values. Then IPL bought Consumers Gas, changed name to Enbridge and everything became about business. The charm and family of Consumers Gas was gone. As time passed, Consumers Gas became a distant memory. Even today, the 170 year history of Consumers Gas is rarely mentioned nor does anyone at Enbridge Corporage really care. So the point of all this is that when one company buys another, the past is forgotten. Unfortunately Enbridge bought Union and as such it will be the Enbridge way and the Union Gas name and culture will disappear and eventually forgotten. I am not saying any of this is good, but it is the way it will be. I long for the Consumers Gas days, but they will never come back, just as Union Gas will never come back.

Agree. Be part of the change, not part of the toxicity.

AM and CH won’t be around much longer, but most employees will be.

Re: leadership, I doubt that's what AM was looking for when they decided who would become the President of EGI. You could tell in the Town Hall that leading people is the furthest thing from CH's mind. People problems would have to reach epic proportions and start affecting financials before it would even register as a priority. Fair enough I guess... CH and AM have made it clear that the value Enbridge Corp sees in EGI is our low-risk business, and regular rate of return. You don't need inspirational people leaders to run that kind of company. I mean, can you imagine what the pep talk for being low-risk and regular might sound like? it probably sounds exactly like AM's drones.

UG was different, and maybe some of that will rub off on Enbridge. That's probably the best we can hope for, so every one of us needs to work toward that. Putting down the EGD people isn't going to help. There are plenty of good people at EGD and like many have said, they are just as disgusted with Corporate as we are. Also, if we act dysfunctional, we know exactly how Corporate is going to act... they'll try to whip us into submission with layoffs, dumb policies, and more of their blundering HR initiatives. Be part of the change, not part of the toxicity.

What an arrogant blind individual you are thinking that Enbridge is a trim slim corporation.

Did all Spectra executive double their final compensation from 2015 to 2017. NO !

Did Enbridge executive double their final compensation from 2015 to 2017. YES !

Does 1 field technician basically do the same as 2-3 fields technicians at Enbridge. YES !

Oh so efficient Enbridge. Oh so embarrassing Enbridge.

customers will tell you the truth of who is better

Oh my, you're going to be fun to work with if you come into the merge with that attitude! I for one welcome the new Enbridge overlords.

If UG is so much “fatter” than EGD, why did the Board look at the financials of both and say UG is more efficient? The numbers don’t lie. And by that, I mean the actual financial numbers, not what you think you can see in an org chart. The EGD org chart is so f---ed up with an extra layer of management in any places, I’m not sure how you can conclude anything just from looking at it.

As for layoffs, EGD had to do layoffs because it’s workforce had become engorged and complacent and everyone and their dog had risen to management status. Before the Spectra acquisition, I was in regular contact with people from EGD and I wasn’t surprised about any of the people I knew who got laid-off... they were some of the dimest, laziest people I ever met and were making crazy money and thought they were untouchable. Union was actually kind of the same, but further in the past... and they swept out the lazies more gradually rather than letting it fester to the point they had to do a mass layoff. Honestly, this is all common knowledge to anyone who has been in energy for a while. I find it funny that people even try to claim EGD is a better business ...

The jet is the least of the fat. Look at the org structures, way more people in some groups. As many as 3 or 4 people doing what 1 does at EGD since they’ve already had multiple rounds of layoffs/reductions

UG has (had) a corporate jet? There's obviously a lot of fat to be trimmed.

Did anyone see CH after the Town Hall? Curious about her reaction.

Everyone felt the emotion. Felt the loss of so much of what we has as UG.

Everyone except cold heart CH.

Yep. We had a worked his way up through the company, well respected, people focused leader replaced by CH as well. We do know.

Also please remember that Enbridge Gas Distribution was once Consumers Gas and many of us have been EXACTLY where Union Gas employees are now. Please don't paint us all with the corporate paintbrush. Believe me, we know how hard and sh--ty this all is.

I hope the UG employees won't hold grudges against the other front line and first and second-level leaders from Enbridge. We didn't make the decisions leading up to all the recent changes. We need to work together, going forward, with open minds and open hearts.

Same thing happened at Spectra. The dominos will start to fall.

The corporate jet is not an UG asset but a leased one for the benefit off all UG employees. How much do you want to bet that future bookings will be confined to senior bigwigs like CH? Oh silly me, being based in Toronto there will only be token appearances to the regions or via Skype. There will be no personal touch only exhortations to do more with less, employee layoffs and presentations on our EBITDA results - yawn

I was in the "live" audience and it was extremely emotional for all the Union Gas people there. Many people teared up or cried through Dave and Steve's remarks. I have never experienced anything like it. Sometimes you really don't realize what you had until its gone.

Even though Enbridge has taken away our name and leader, you could really feel something in the room, something that won't easily be broken or taken away. We need to rise above the Enbridge toxicity and turn this new EGI into the company we want to work for, somehow. I think we can do it as long as we keep lifting each other up and working together, as that's the reason we ended up miles ahead of EGD in the first place.

SB had loads of integrity and respect for employees and valued them as a core asset. He was an individual that not only worked up through Union Gas but led through us continuous growth.

He got that standing ovation cause he dam well deserved it and everyone in the room knew he did.

I'm sure he knows the people he leaves behind will not be treated the same ever again.

I wish him well as we who are left stare into the bleakness of none of what we have been exposed to the last 7 years

Well at least the UG director was a man. Death to the patriarchy!

If the worst thing you can say about SB is that he uses a corporate plane service (not owned by the company).... a plane that Union Gas lets any employee use, regardless of rank or any ego b---s---... then I think the original poster’s point has been proven. And by the way, CH took the plane to Chatham last night.

Did they let the true leader take his personal jet or was it given back to the customers?