GreenShield workers in Windsor on strike

Greenshield workers on strike in Windsor, Ont., on March 1, 2024. (Bob Bellacicco/CTV News Windsor)

Employees with Greenshield in Windsor are on strike.

The Unifor Local 240 members walked off the job just after midnight to back contract demands.

Local 240 chairperson Paula Bastien Stedman tells AM800's The Morning Drive that job security and contracting out language are two key issues.

"The main concerns we have at the table are job security and contracting out language and we work really hard for 17 days to try and get to an agreement but the employer doesn't seem to be budging," says Bastien Stedman.

She says the union continues to update its members.

"We've been keeping them up to date, we have different platforms that we share information with them along the way in the process," she says. "So they do know why we're on strike for job security and contracting out."

Bastien Stedman says the strike will affect plan members and striking members.

"That's a big concern for us," says Bastien Stedman. "The plan members obviously are probably going to struggle even more for service and we do find ourselves quite short staffed so that was definitely concerning for us and we did mention that before we left the table and of course as well as our own members livelihood."

According to Bastien Stedman, no new talks are planned.

Local 240 said the union and the company have been negotiating a new collective agreement since Jan. 15.

There are 600 Local 240 members on strike and 24 workers in Toronto who are represented by Local 673.

With files from AM800 News.