Windsor Salt Workers Hold the Line
Workers at Windsor Salt in Windsor, Ontario are entering the 5th week on strike. By now the company is clear that their No means No! when it comes to union-busting through contracting out and the company has agreed to return to the negotiations, which will resume on Wednesday March 22. Despite this, the workers say they harbour no illusions that the company will stop dictating concessions.
Despite indications in the joint statement the union issued with the company that says conditions exist to come to an agreement, there is no public confirmation that the company has backed down from demanding concessions. Nonetheless, since it was revealed that the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is an investor in Stone Canyon Industries Holdings Inc., that owns Windsor Salt, and the Unifor president sent a letter to the Plan urging the people at the pension fund to get the company to negotiate, the tone of the company lawyer has undergone an 180 degree about face and he is now playing good cop, not bad cop. In other words, the company has been forced to change tack.
Workers from the U.S. experienced with operations owned by Stone Canyon are writing to the Windsor workers about what is happening in Windsor and the role of the teachers’ pension fund. They are sharing the experience of what many have gone through in negotiations with Stone Canyon, their law firm Jackson Lewis, and their lead lawyer, and are closely following what happens in Windsor.
(This article was updated on March 21)