Ontario millwrights working in the ICI sector have reached an impasse in contract negotiations with their employers and have announced they’ll hit the bricks June 25 unless there’s a last-minute settlement.
The Association of Millwrighting Contractors of Ontario (AMCO), negotiating on behalf of contractors, made what it called a final offer through a conciliator on June 18 in an attempt to avoid a strike June 19, the union’s legal strike date. The union then communicated its intention to take strike action June 25 at 12:01 a.m.
Andrew Bredin, director of communications and stakeholder relations for the Millwright Regional Council, cited wages, name hiring and travel and accommodations as unresolved issues between the parties.
“We’re just looking for what’s fair,” said Bredin. “They walked away on June 19, at three o’clock in the afternoon. And they’re not even taking our offer to their membership, which is the real sticking point.”
AMCO executive director Patricia Penney-Rouzes confirmed the association has received the strike notice but declined to discuss further details of negotiations.
She did comment in a statement, “A strike would definitely have a negative impact on our union market share.”
If they proceed with the job action, the millwrights will be the only one of Ontario’s 25 ICI trades to withdraw their services during the 2025 bargaining cycle. Twenty-three trades have ratified three-year provincial deals, and sheet metal workers and their employers have agreed to seek binding arbitration in September to resolve one remaining issue.
Under Ontario legislation, collective bargaining in the unionized ICI sector is co-ordinated with contracts expiring every three years on April 30.
As of midday Monday no further meetings had been set up and strike plans were proceeding as scheduled.
“We’re not going to back down under pressure,” said Bredin. “We’re just not going to accept this lack of respect.”
Bredin said union operations staff was collecting data and deciding on picket targets.
He said the four other mechanical trades -– boilermakers, iron workers, electricians and pipefitters – have bargained for raises of between $6.75 and $7 total over three years and the millwrights are asking for the average of those increases. He said the employers’ wage offer is for less than the other four settlements.
Bredin said it would be the first strike by millwrights in the provincial ICI sector in recent history.
“We’ve had a really good relationship with AMCO,” he said. “We don’t feel like this is a reflection of our relationships with the contractors in Ontario, we don’t believe that this is the wish of the contractors.
“So we’re hesitant, because this really punishes the contractor.”
Name hiring refers to how workers are assigned when an employer calls a union hall, Bredin explained. The employers want more say on which workers they hire, he said. The union, for its part, does not want to reduce its ability to assign work to apprentices.
“We feel as an apprentice you’re left out of that name hiring when you first start,” he said. “The apprenticeship is very important to us, and we want to make sure we’re giving our apprentices the opportunity to make a name for themselves and to get work.”
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