Unifor National President Lana Payne used to be in Windsor on Friday providing reinforce to inserting workers on the wood line at Windsor Salt.

Members of Unifor Locals 1959 and 240 started apt strike movement on Feb. 17 after the corporate throughout contract negotiations tabled concessionary calls for for contracting out jobs.

Fresh bargaining is the first time since Windsor Salt used to be purchased by Stone Canyon Industries in 2021, a U.S-primarily based non-public retaining firm.

Firm’s representatives own refused to chat about any monetary considerations throughout negotiations with out an agreement from the union to allow contracting out of jobs, in step with the union.

“Our message on the present time used to be here’s a hedge fund that came to the bargaining desk to assassinate the union,” mentioned Payne rapidly after meeting with workers on the wood line. “It has been 60 years of setting up simply jobs at that facility, so that’s not going to happen. We isn’t going to stand for these concessions.

“Discontinuance with the concessions and cleave worth a brand contemporary collective agreement.”

Virtually 250 workers are at the moment on strike at Windsor Salt. Local 240 represents place of job workers, while Local 1959 represents workers on the Ojibway Mine and on the evaporation processing fields.

Since the strike started there own been no additional contract talks held for workers at Windsor Salt or any scheduled.

“The spirits of every person stays high,” Payne mentioned. “Three weeks could perhaps well not seem fancy change time, however if you’re on the wood line it in actual fact is. Here is crucial to the workers and they also’re not going to present away what it took 60 years to manufacture.

“Our participants are very constructive to ranking a super collective agreement.”

Payne throughout her end Friday in Windsor additionally visited the Windsor Celebrity Starway Printing Plant on the glorious day that workers at that facility will print the paper within the community. Production of the newspaper is being moved to Toronto. Workers on the plant are represented by Unifor Local 517-G.

“We wanted to exhibit our workers solidarity on their closing day of work at that plant,” Payne mentioned. “I in actuality own a journalistic background, so closure of the printing plant hits shut to house.

“There’s unimaginable history at that plant and the total news they’ve printed through the years.”

On a extra aloof scale, Unifor stays bright lobbying the federal authorities to dash Invoice C-218 — legislation that could perhaps well maybe leer entities much like Fb and Google pay a price to media retail outlets for the news they allotment on their net sites.

“Local news is so crucial, however it is miles fading throughout Canada,” Payne mentioned. “The bill is sitting within the senate. We’re pushing the authorities to originate it happen and build a compensation into supporting Canadian news.”

dbattagello@postmedia.com