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Black River-Matheson labour dispute reaches the six-month mark

The labour dispute in the Township of Black River-Matheson has reached the six-month mark after both parties agreed to a memorandum of settlement, but failed to finalize the deal.

Memorandum of settlement reached, but the deal fell through at final hour

CBC News ·
People on a picket line holding colourful signs.
Municipal workers in Black River-Matheson, a northern Ontario town of 2,500 people, have been on the picket line since October 2023. (Submitted by Tom Pullen)

The labour dispute in the Township of Black River-Matheson has reached the six-month mark.

A dozen municipal employees have been on the picket line since Oct. 15, but the dispute nearly came to an end earlier this month. 

In a written statement, Mayor Doug Bender said the town and union reached a memorandum of settlement on all outstanding items for a new collective agreement on April 3.

"This included a 14 per cent increase over four years, the implementation of a wage grid as amended by the union and vacation time improvements," the statement said.

The plan was for the members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees to return to work on April 15.

But according to Bender, the deal fell through when the union placed a return-to-work protocol on the table.

A man wearing sunglasses and a black hoodie, standing in front of a pickup truck.
Serge Bouchard, the president of CUPE Local 1490. (Jimmy Chabot/Radio-Canada)

CUPE Local 1490 president Serge Bourchard told CBC News the return-to-work protocol would protect employees from any reprisals once they're back on the job. 

"We have filed an unfair labour practice, we have filed a challenge in court to their unconstitutional trespass orders," Bourchard said in a statement.

"And we offered to drop them in exchange for the employer agreeing they will not pursue reprisals or investigations into members who walked the picket line."

But in his statement, Bender said the legal challenges the union wants dropped include charges filed with local police against striking union members. 

"The township cannot order individuals to drop personal charges. In addition, an investigation is underway by a third party that is looking into whether or not employees acted in a manner that was not in keeping with normal strike behaviour," the statement said.

Bouchard said in an interview that the union does not expect any criminal charges to be dropped.

"That is 100 per cent on the Crown. We cannot tell the Crown what to do," he said.

He said the return-to-work protocol amounts to a "forgive and forget" clause.

"It seems like we're so close, yet so far," he said.

"And I don't know why it's had to go on so long. This could be done very quickly."

With files from Erika Chorostil

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