One day of talks fruitless as Ingersoll's IMT strike in fourth week

A sit-down between unionized workers at an Ingersoll-based defence industry supplier who walked off the job nearly a month ago and their employer, yielded little progress toward ending the strike, said a union leader.

After 98 per cent of the 208 members of United Steelworkers Local 2918 working at IMT Defence – a company that manufactures projectiles and vehicle systems – voted in favour of a strike to do away with the company's two-tier pay structure, the opposing sides met on Wednesday for the first time since union members hit the picket line on June 3. Union president Jay Mcdonnell, said he couldn't go into too much detail, but said the talks “didn't go great.”

“I can just say we had a talk yesterday and it didn't really go anywhere,” said Mcdonnell, a 13year veteran with the company. “It hasn't really changed anything.”

Mcdonnell said the union members are strong in their resolve to eliminate the two-tier pay structure to achieve wage parity for new hires.

“We're still committed that we're fighting for wage equality,” said Mcdonnell. “We want everyone to be making the same wage eventually, so, that's going to be our goal.”

In a written statement from IMT on Thursday, the company said it came forward with a “very significant proposal” which addressed areas the union “had signaled were critical to the membership.”

IMT'S statement said its “enhanced proposal” included replacing the two-tier wage system with a wage progression schedule, adding “the overwhelming majority” of its workers would receive a 26 per cent wage increase during the first five years of the schedule.

But Mcdonnell said the 26 per cent increase was during 10 years, didn't apply to all employees, the wage starting point was too low and the timeframe for wage parity was too long, as well as a four-year wage freeze for senior employees. Also, the union wasn't looking for a “tenure progression,” and made a counteroffer, which was confidential, before talks concluded, Mcdonnell said.

Another point of contention was the contract's eight-year term, which Mcdonnell called “unheard of.”

“We're not NBA players or NHL players,” Mcdonnell said. “Eight years is a long time to go without having the possibility of a labour talk.”

IMT'S statement said union leadership “walked away from the table almost immediately,” an assertion Mcdonnell denied.

“We were there for almost eight hours yesterday, and in those eight hours, seven of those hours was waiting for the company's response on anything,” Mcdonnell said.

Mcdonnell said replacement workers are driven to the facility five or six times daily on buses that fit about 10 people. Initially picketers would hold the buses up longer, but a strike protocol only allows union members to stall the vehicles for a maximum of 15 minutes.

Mcdonnell said morale is still high among the striking union members who are picketing around the clock, "even this weekend with the big Canada Day.”

With little headway made at Wednesday's meeting, Mcdonnell said further talks haven't been scheduled as the strike drags into Week 4.

The last time IMT workers walked off the job was in 2005 when the strike lasted 13 weeks.