Manitoba Hydro's electrical and maintenance workers are preparing to walk the picket line this week.

The union representing the workers, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2034, gave a 48-hour strike notice to the crown corporation on Sunday.

The notice says that the IBEW will provide Hydro with a "minimum of two hours notice for site specific strike action, and to perform any duties necessary for safe operations during said two-hour period.”

Members voted in favour of strike-action earlier last week, the IBEW says.

"This notice to the Corporation does not take our members out.  It does, however, indicate to the Corporation that we have now fulfilled the legal requirements needed to call a strike," the IBEW says. "Further, it warns Manitoba Hydro that, should strike action become necessary, it will only receive two-hours’ notice before labour action begins."

The union represents almost 3,000 members, according to its website, who "operate, maintain, and repair all of Manitoba Hydro’s facilities, from the large generating stations to the trucks you see driving down the road to the radios in those trucks."

In another memo, on its website, the union says that two days of negotiations with the corporation at the beginning of the month made "very little" progress.

Earlier memos say that the union's main concerns are with COVID-19 recoveries, proposed wage freezes, and protection of pension plans.