Workers at Pelee Island Winery and Vineyards Inc. in Kingsville have joined Unifor as new members.
Workers voted to join the union on March 27 and March 28, and the union agreed with the Ontario Labour Relations Board to form two separate units.
The first bargaining unit will be for those working directly in Kingsville such as office and clerical employees, the bottling line, and maintenance. Those employees voted 70 per cent in favour of joining.
Meanwhile, the second unit is for those employees in sales who work remotely and service all of Ontario. Those employees voted 100 per cent in favour of joining the union.
Unifor states that these employees chose to organize and join the union after workplace conditions were being challenged with new management. There were vacation cutbacks with senior employees, harassment, favouritism, and job security issues.
John Biekx, Unifor National Representative, says some of the workers reached out to the union.
"We had a roundtable discussion surrounding the possibilities of getting certified at their workplace, there was some ongoing concerns surrounding seniority, vacation entitlements, and some workplace challenges that they were experiencing and wanted to go through the process of joining Unifor."
He says they have not entered into bargaining for a contract as of yet.
"Effectively what's going to happen now is they will enter into bargaining once they get their Local designation, and a bargaining committee set up, they will get into bargaining and then once that's completed it'll get ratified by the members. And then it'll most likely be a three year, four year deal, probably a three year deal. And then they get a kick of the can again in three years."
Biekx adds that they are excited to have these employees join the Unifor family.
"We're always looking to help those who want to be helped, and feel that they can benefit from the voice of a union, and Unifor is always here for them. So with that being said we're just glad that we were able to lock this group in and look forward to making the positive changes to help these members move forward."
The union will now represent 43 employees with Pelee Island Winery and Vineyards.
These new members have not yet been assigned to a Local Unifor group at this time.
Other local hard liquor makers who are part of Unifor include Diageo in Amherstburg, and Hiram Walker and Sons Ltd. in Windsor.