TORONTO -- Employees with the Canadian Hearing Society have launched strike action.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says management rejected all of the union's proposals and the 227 employees had no choice.

The union says the two sides met over the weekend with a mediator, but couldn't reach a deal.

The unionized workers include counsellors, literacy instructors, audiologists, speech language pathologists and interpreters. They work at 24 Canadian Hearing Society offices across Ontario.

The society has said it's trying to reach a deal that will position the organization well for the future to provide much-needed services and programs to our clients.

The society is a non-profit organization that says it provides services, products, and information that remove barriers to communication for people who are culturally deaf, deafened and hard of hearing.