Windsor Salt strike might show up in your grocery bill
It's been a month and Windsor Salt union reps say the company hasn't spoken with striking employees
About 250 employees are a month into striking at Windsor Salt and union reps say the company has not spoken with employees yet.
The workers have been on strike since Feb. 17 at 200 Morton Drive, near the Ojibway salt mine location.
Unionized Windsor Salt employees haven't gone on strike for 32 years, said Lindsay Meloche, chairperson for the Unifor Local 240 unit representing Windsor Salt employees.
CBC News reached out to Windsor Salt but has yet to hear back.
U.S.-based holding company Stone Canyon Industries, which owns Windsor Salt, received a court injunction on March 1 that allowed non-unionized workers to cross the picket line.
Ongoing strike may lead to grocery inflation
But even with non-unionized workers, Meloche said Windsor Salt is likely struggling to meet demands with 250 staff members on the picket line.
"The mine is completely shut down," she said, adding that shipping employees are sending out product that was mined pre-strike.
"I don't know the capacity of what they can produce without us being back to work," she said.
Sylvain Charlebois is the director of the Agrifood Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He said the ongoing strike might hit Canadians in their wallets if staffing shortages continue.
He said rising supply chain costs contributing to grocery inflation are in part caused by the rising cost of ingredients, like salt.
"I know a lot of people are blaming grocers for higher prices, but the reality is that ingredients are more costly," he said.
"As soon as you have labour disruptions, it just makes things worse."
Workers fighting for 60-year-old union
Windsor Salt workers went on strike in response to de-unionizing actions by Stone Canyon Industries, Meloche said.
"The management company basically wants to contract out the jobs for everyone," she said, adding that would mean eliminating packaging, shipping and skilled trades work as unionized labour at Windsor Salt.
Meloche said the issues started in 2021 when Stone Canyon Industries took over Windsor Salt and began to "erode the union."
She said she hopes the company will come to the bargaining table with its employees soon to reach a collective bargaining agreement.
"We've been unionized that Windsor salt for over 60 years and we've had advances in collective bargaining ever since then," she said.
"They basically want to take away all of what we've worked so hard to achieve over the last 60 years."
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan key investor in Windsor Salt: Unifor
On Tuesday, Unifor released a public letter calling the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), one of Windsor Salt's major investors, to pressure Stone Canyon Industries into meeting with its striking employees.
"No investment can be responsible unless workers' rights and the collective bargaining process are given their due respect," Unifor national president Lana Payne wrote.
She wrote that Windsor Salt and Stone Canyon Industries have not met the environmental, social and governance standards in the OTPP's responsible investing guidelines, and asked the OTTP board to take action.
"As one of the world's biggest institutional investors safeguarding the pensions of tens of thousands of unionized workers, OTPP has the power to ensure that the companies it invests in behave responsibly, particularly when it comes to respecting labour rights."