Workers vote to end 'historic' nearly 10-month strike at Kanata nuclear facility
Unifor workers at Best Theratronics voted unanimously to ratify new 4-year collective agreement
Workers have voted to end a nearly 10-month strike at a Kanata nuclear facility after a marathon standoff between a disgruntled workforce and the company's multi-millionaire owner.
Unifor Local 1541 workers at Best Theratronics, a west Ottawa facility that manufactures radiation therapy devices, had been on strike since last May.
The union, which represents most of the roughly 60 striking workers, reached a tentative agreement with the employer Saturday, and members voted unanimously Sunday to ratify the new contract and bring the strike to an end, according to the union.
The union said workers will receive wage increases in each year of the new four-year contract, adding up to 11 per cent in increases.
"Congratulations to the bargaining committee for making sure members were finally heard and respected," Unifor national president Lana Payne said in a Sunday afternoon news release.
"This was a historic strike in Unifor's books, highlighting the need for tougher labour laws that protect collective bargaining."
The workers had been without a contract since 2023.
After the company offered workers a package in January 2024 with a zero per cent pay increase for two years, Unifor members put down their tools on May 1, 2024. Their co-workers, represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada, followed suit nine days later.
This January, about a year after the original offer and about nine months after the strike began, the company's owner Krishnan Suthanthiran entered negotiations with the striking workers.
Suthanthiran is an Indian-born multi-millionaire businessman who runs a group of global companies that manufacture medical devices. Now a resident of Virginia, he studied at Carleton University in the 1970s.
In news releases, Suthanthiran claimed losses of tens of millions of dollars at Best Theratronics, blaming what he described as the low productivity of Canadian workers and threatening to close the company.
Best Theratronics manufactures cyclotrons and medical equipment. It has a nuclear substance processing facility operating licence to handle radioactive material for manufacturing radiation therapy units and blood irradiators.
Last November, a federal labour board heard an unfair labour practices complaint against the company after two orders issued by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
Unifor accused Suthanthiran of not negotiating in good faith, while the owner accused striking workers of engaging in an "illegal blockade" of the facility.
As recently as last Wednesday, Unifor said Suthanthiran had suddenly shifted the "goalposts" during negotiations.
Unifor said some members will return to work as soon as Monday.