On strike at Clear Medical Imaging.
Unifor Local 2458 says its 130 members at 11 locations in Windsor, Tecumseh, LaSalle, Essex and Chatham-Kent are on the picket line as of Friday morning.
The union says key issues are wages, benefits, mandatory overtime and job security.
Speaking on AM800's 'Mornings with Mike & Meg', local 2458 president Ken Durocher says wages are a big issue in these talks.
"This group is about $10 to $15 an hour behind hospital workers who do the exact same jobs, so that's an issue," says Durocher. "The benefit package we're looking at getting benefits for all employees at that workplace and scheduling provisions."
He says this is a first contract for the employees, who voted 99 per cent in favour of strike action to back their demands.
"This group probably about 10 months ago approached Unifor to join our union and it's been a struggle for eight months to even get bargaining dates with this employer and we finally did last month and we've been at the table for four weeks straight trying to get a collective agreement," he says.
Durocher says workers went out on strike around 7 a.m.
"Bargaining broke off I would say around 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon with the employer telling us that there was no more movement on their last offer to us and there has been no new dates or times scheduled but we're open to bargaining," says Durocher. "We're ready to go back to the table today to try and get this resolved as we know this has a great impact on the public."
He adds it was a tough decision to go out on strike.
"There's a 900 we believe resident wait on getting some of these procedures done and it's a tough decision but we have to make this decision to hopefully get this employer just to move on some of the issues and get a fair collective agreement for our membership here," he says.
Unifor had set a strike deadline of 11:59 Thursday night to reach a new deal.
#Unifor Local 2458 Clear Medical Imaging members' have started strike action, standing strong for fair wages and better working conditions. It’s time for the employer to get back to the table and give workers a fair deal. #canlab #cdnpoli https://t.co/dLoofFJERo pic.twitter.com/v2NXNGPAr7
— Unifor (@UniforTheUnion) October 25, 2024
