Hundreds of workers to strike at Highbury Canco starting Monday

A final contract offer from Leamington-based food processor Highbury Canco was shot down by workers Saturday afternoon, sending hundreds of workers to the picket line Monday morning.

The company provided a final offer to the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union Local 175 on Feb. 7.

That offer was then forwarded to members Saturday afternoon and according to the union, 80 per cent of roughly 400 workers rejected the offer.

”We are at a stalemate and you know, the membership has spoken,” said Sam Caetano, the regional director of UFCW Local 175.

According to the Caetano, the final offer included wage increases and monetary improvements of 28 per cent over the four-year deal.

But union reps said with rampant inflation, quickly climbing interest rates and the rising price of food and gas, workers didn’t feel like enough was offered in the first year of the proposed agreement.

“It's not enough for us to accept the offer in today's economy in 2023, with the present inflation and food and everything else,” Caetano said.

405 workers will be walking off the job on Monday and picketing out front of the Oak Street facility.

According to Highbury Canco President and CEO Sam Diab, about 200 other employees not represented by the UFCW will continue to come to work.

“We will operate facilities as best as we can with the other employees we have,” said Diab. “We’re just trying to preserve operations for everybody.”

“We will make sure that we still allow those members to go to work and make sure that they maintain the building and the facility to make sure that everyone is safe,” added Caetano.

The contract for employees represented by UFCW Local 175 expired in December 2022.

Back in November, those workers voted 99.9 per cent in favour of strike action if a deal wasn’t reached by Monday.

“We’re a small company and we operate in a small town. We look at wage increases as an investment in the community,” said Diab. “We’ve got a world class group of employees. We’re a family within a factory. We’re hoping things get back as soon as possible.”

Caetano added, “We are open and willing to go back to the table. And anytime the company wants to meet with us, the union and the committee are ready to meet.”

The two sides have not set a date for further negotiation and there is no indication how long the strike may last.

Workers at the plant manufacture tomato-based food and beverage products under an umbrella of different brand names.

Strike action is slated to begin on Monday at 12:01 a.m.