Windsor Salt mine workers reject tentative deal to end strike, other units pause voting

After a gruelling five-month strike, some Windsor Salt workers have rejected a tentative agreement between the company and one of the union locals representing the workers.

Jodi Nesbitt, Unifor Local 240 president, confirmed to CBC News that members at Local 1959, representing Windsor Salt mine workers, had rejected their deal Wednesday afternoon. 

Nesbitt said voting on collective agreements for two other components of Windsor Salt, represented by Locals 1959 and 240, had paused voting after the rejection of the first deal by mine members. 

Nesbitt said she could not give an indication of the next steps forward as of Wednesday evening. 

Local 1959 could not immediately be reached for comment. 

Unifor National said in a statement the tentative deal was rejected due to concerns surrounding "daily distribution of work among other issues."

"Unifor will continue to work to come to a resolution on behalf of our members. The bargaining committees from Local 240 and the outstanding Local 1959 unit opted to pause the ratification vote in solidarity with the Local 1959 mine group," the union said. 

The two sides reached a tentative agreement last week. The membership cast a ratification vote Wednesday.

The five-month old strike involves about 250 workers.