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Talks between the union representing workers at an Ingersoll-based defence industry supplier and the company made little progress in ending a strike now in its fourth week, a union leader says.
After 98 per cent of the 208 members of United Steelworkers Local 2918 working at IMT Defence – a company that manufactures projectiles and vehicle systems – voted in favour of a strike, the opposing sides met Wednesday for the first time since union members hit the picket line June 3. Union president Jay McDonnell said talks “didn’t go great” but he couldn’t go into too much detail.
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“I can just say we had a talk yesterday and it didn’t really go anywhere,” said McDonnell, a 13-year veteran with the company. “It hasn’t really changed anything.”
Union members are strong in their resolve to eliminate a two-tier pay structure to achieve wage parity for new hires, McDonnell said.
“We’re still committed that we’re fighting for wage equality,” he said. “We want everyone to be making the same wage eventually, so, that’s going to be our goal.”
In a written statement from IMT on Thursday, the company said it came forward with a “very significant proposal” that addressed areas the union “had signalled were critical to the membership.”
IMT’s statement said its “enhanced proposal” included replacing the two-tier wage system with a wage progression schedule, adding “the overwhelming majority” of its workers would receive a 26 per cent wage increase during the first five years of the schedule.
But McDonnell said the 26 per cent increase would take 10 years and not apply to all employees, the wage starting point was too low and the timeframe for wage parity was too long. The company’s proposal also included a four-year wage freeze for senior employees, he said.
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The union wasn’t looking for a “tenure progression,” McDonnell said, and made a counteroffer that was confidential before talks concluded.
Another point of contention was the contract’s eight-year term, which McDonnell called “unheard of.
“We’re not NBA players or NHL players,” he said. “Eight years is a long time to go without having the possibility of a labour talk.”
IMT’s statement said union leadership “walked away from the table almost immediately,” an assertion McDonnell denied.
“We were there for almost eight hours yesterday, and in those eight hours, seven of those hours was waiting for the company’s response on anything,” he said.
McDonnell said replacement workers are driven to the facility five or six times daily on buses that fit about 10 people to fill jobs of union members on the picket line. Initially picketers would hold the buses up longer, but a strike protocol only allows union members to stall the vehicles for a maximum of 15 minutes.
Morale is still high among the striking union members who are picketing around the clock, “even this weekend with the big Canada Day,” McDonnell said.
With little headway made at Wednesday’s meeting, McDonnell said further talks haven’t been scheduled as the strike is its fourth week.
The last time IMT workers walked off the job was in 2005 when the strike lasted 13 weeks.
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada
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