BLACK RIVER-MATHESON - After nearly six months, striking staff in a Northern Ontario municipality have been at the bargaining table recently, but still don't have a deal to go back to work.
Representatives from the CUPE Local 1490 bargaining team met with Matheson on April 3 and again yesterday (April 10), but bargaining broke down.
“I know there has been negotiations occurring which is positive and hopefully a forthcoming agreement," Mayor Doug Bender told TimminsToday.
The ongoing labour dispute started in October 2023 when the township locked out 14 CUPE members. The members went on strike when the township ended the lockout in January.
Tammy Robinson, a spokesperson for CUPE Local 1490, said the April 3 meeting lasted for about nine hours while yesterday’s lasted for about six. She said it didn't end the way that they'd hoped.
While they achieved a memorandum of settlement (MOS), the union wants a return-to-work protocol as part of it.
“It just talks about what happens when people come back, how they come back, benefits, no reprisal, and, of course, that's where the employer got up and ran in the other direction. That was the one item that they’re not prepared to let go. That's when bargaining broke down,” she said.
“We thought it would go because we have filed an unfair labour practice, we've also filed a challenge in the court to their unconstitutional trespass orders, so we thought for sure that they would be in agreement to do that, but apparently they have an investigation going on. So yeah, they're not prepared to put them in a return-to-work protocol.”
SEE: Two-tiered wages a sticking point in Matheson negotiations
RELATED: 'It's a hit to the gut': Striking Matheson workers banned from some buildings
Robinson said the town hasn't given any details about the nature of the investigation, but told them “it’s not necessarily” due to strike activity.
“They’re ominous in their responses,” she said.
“We don't know if it's attached to all the other stuff that's going on in the community and if it is, that could go on for months and months. And that's not fair that you hold that over the workers’ heads.”
Robinson said 10 members from the CUPE Local 416 union in Toronto showed up as a surprise yesterday to the CUPE Local 1490 picket line to support them. The township closed its office around 11 a.m. noting that it would reopen today (April 11). When TimminsToday reached out to the municipality, staff did not provide a reason for the closure.
When the 416 union members joined the striking Matheson members on Feb. 12 the town cancelled its council meeting.
