Nemak employees return to work after Unifor tears down blockade

Nearly 300 Nemak employees are heading back to work after Unifor tore down its blockade late Sunday when both sides agreed to negotiate about the plant's future.

The union made a list of demands late Saturday night, which included three face-to-face meetings with Nemak. Unifor said its goal is to get the auto parts manufacturer to honour an agreement and keep the plant open until at least 2022.

"Hopefully we can get that resolved as soon as possible," said Unifor Local 200 president John D'Agnolo.

In July, Nemak announced the plant would close next year. If nothing can be resolved during these talks, it will move to an expedited arbitration. Unifor National President Jerry Dias has said the company is closing the plant to move production to Mexico in 2020. 

The 270 employees have been protesting, and blocking all entrances, since Labour Day, nearly two weeks ago.

Back to work within hours of agreement

Workers were told about the new agreement at around 9 p.m. ET Sunday, and some were expected to return to work at 11 p.m. the same day.

"We gave them until Wednesday, but they wanted that plant open tonight," said D'Agnolo. "There were a lot of talks. This didn't just happen right away."

One of Unifor's conditions that Nemak agreed to, said D'Agnolo, is that no employees will be disciplined due to the labour dispute.

Workers surprised

Mary Schisler has been a Nemak employee for six years. She didn't expect a decision like this one on Sunday night, given Unifor's demands had a deadline of Wednesday.

"I am ecstatic. I'm so happy that this is done," said Schisler. "I'm just ready to go back to work. To me it's a great day."

Unifor said the next steps are meetings with management at Nemak.

"We want to discuss this and try to get this resolved before it goes to a third party," said D'Agnolo.

Nemak has not returned CBC's emails or phone calls seeking comment.

On Friday, Unifor was found in contempt for not following a court decision. The union was being fined $10,000 per day — and four leaders will need to pay $1,000 daily — for failing to remove the blockade. The union was previously fined $75,000 for not obeying the order.