THUNDER BAY – About 25 union workers at Reliance Home Comfort in Thunder Bay have started walking the picket line after being locked out by the parent company.
Russ Cooper, a Unifor Local 1999 steward, said the workers have been without a contract since the end of March and are fighting to ensure newer employees are given benefits similar to longer-serving employees.
“The main issues with us are pensions and sick days and personal days,” Cooper said. “There’s a two-tiered system for benefits here. The older employees have one system and the newer employees have a much lesser system, where the benefits are a lot less, the pension is a lot less.
“That’s what we’re really fighting for, to get the younger guys up a little closer to the people who have been here for 10 or 15 years, so they have something to build for their family and their future with. At this point they won’t even give these guys sick days.”
Cooper said to add fuel to fire, the company has imported replacement workers, mostly from Reliance’s Barrie office, to cross the picket line and continue offering to service customer’s furnaces and hot water heaters.
It’s created a little tension on the picket line.
“That’s exactly what they’re saying, that we’re not that important to the big scheme of things, though when we’re not locked out we’re the champions and we’re the reason why the company exists,” Cooper said.
“There’s no money for us, there’s no benefits for the young guys. They don’t see that as a key issue. They’re not interested in keeping long-term employees.”
Cooper said about 800 employees are affected by the province-wide lockout. He added there are no new negotiations scheduled, but offered up they are ready to talk at a moment’s notice.
The company says they bargained in good faith with Local 1999 for several days and had reached a tentative agreement, but membership did not ratify the deal.
“This is disappointing news and we do not know why the members did not ratify the Agreement. In our view, it is a fair agreement which included significant wage increases and benefit improvements. Reliance continued to bargain with Unifor this week, but an Agreement has not been finalized,” said Paul Gyarmati, Western Canada vice-president for Reliance Home Comfort, in a statement emailed to Dougall Media on Thursday.
He added the lockout does not affect non-union employees, noting the dispute should not affect customer service.
