ITF general secretary Steve Cotton has written to Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne to express concern over her government’s approach to collective bargaining with Unifor and its Local 103.
Unifor – an ITF affiliate – told the federation that on 11 November the government locked out workers at ONTC as they reported to work and had ready replacement workers, under the protection of hired security guards. In response, the workers set up their own blockade to refuse their replacements entry into the premises.
In his letter of 26 November, Cotton asked Wynne how she could reconcile the lockout with recent claims by Ontario’s labour minister that the state had a proud record of labour peace, with over 98 percent of agreements reached without incident, and some of the best mediators in Canada.
He said: “The government’s ‘all or nothing’ approach to the outstanding proposals is unacceptable and unreasonable, and does nothing to advance the bargaining process. We understand there is a mechanism in the labour code that could see this dispute brought to a prompt resolve if you were to agree to Unifor’s proposal to a binding dispute resolution process. If your government were to agree, negotiations would resume, employees would return to work and customers could continue to enjoy the valuable services provided by ONTC.
“We are appealing to you to become directly involved in bringing this unnecessary dispute to a resolve.”
