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The Manitoba Hydro building in downtown Winnipeg is locked to the public after an employee was assaulted Friday in the atrium, and a union head is calling for improved safety measures.
“I’m meeting with my executive today, and we’ll discuss what we want to go and take forward to the corporation,” said Michelle Bergen, president of CUPE Local 998, which represents technical and clerical workers at Manitoba Hydro Place.
“Heightened security is definitely on our mind for sure. How those look, we’re not sure right now.”
The 22-storey building, bordered by Portage and Graham avenues and Edmonton and Carlton streets, is the corporate headquarters for the provincial Crown utility.
It opened in 2009 and the atrium has been a publicly accessible space ever since, used for a variety of events, like markets.
Until now.
Michelle Bergen, shown in a file photo, says workers at the downtown Manitoba Hydro building don’t feel safe. (Jaison Empson/CBC)
“Right now, 360 Portage is under lockdown. You cannot get into the atrium. If you’re an employee, you have to fob in and out of the doors,” Bergen said.
“And if you have any guests coming into a meeting, you have to meet them at the doors and bring them in to security and bring them up to the floor. So that’s a good security measure for now, but I’m not sure if that’s going to be in place forever.”
Hydro communications director Scott Powell confirmed the atrium, which links the Portage and Graham entrances, is off limits to the public.
“It’s only for employees at this point in time,” he said.
Asked if he envisions it reopening it at some point, Powell said he “really can’t speculate on where we’re going with this in the future.”
Police were called to the building around 5:30 p.m. Friday about someone with a knife who knocked a man to the ground. The man suffered cuts but disarmed the attacker, police said.
Officers found the attacker still inside, but he was unco-operative and violent, prompting them to stun him with a Taser. An 18-year-old man faces charges of possession of a weapon and assault with a weapon.
Approximately 2,000 employees work in the Hydro HQ and are represented by a number of unions. The victim was not a CUPE member, Bergen said. She didn’t say if he was part of another union or management.
Powell called it “a pretty traumatic event” and said he’s grateful there were only minor injuries.
“Really, it was quite shocking,” he said. Supports are in place for the victim and any other employees affected by the incident, he said.
He also didn’t elaborate on the victim’s position with the corporation.
Hydro is examining “a number of different measures to enhance safety,” but Powell said he can’t discuss them publicly.
‘Looking at a number of changes’
“Our main concern is that our employees can come to their workplace and feel safe doing so. We’re looking at a number of changes to ensure that occurs,” he said.
Bergen is looking forward to hearing more details after receiving several emails and text messages over the weekend from concerned union members.
“We don’t feel safe coming downtown. We don’t feel safe, you know, being in the building. We don’t feel safe going out at lunch,” she said.
Downtown safety has been a concern for quite some time, but “this is the first time it’s been brought into the building,” Bergen said.
She plans to talk to the other unions and gather any thoughts or suggestions they have, then meet with Hydro.
“Right now we have a lot of security in that building — at the doors, the top of the stairs going into the skywalk, and we do have a security guard posted at the new restaurant on the main floor as well,” she said.
She wants to see what the unions and Hydro see as the best path forward.
In addition to addressing concerns inside the building, the corporation is “continuing to work with the Winnipeg Police Service, Downtown Community Safety Partnership [and] Downtown Winnipeg BIZ on strategies to enhance safety in the area as a whole,” Powell said.