Unifor will not end its takeover of the Nemak plant in Windsor despite a court order, instead sending a list of conditions to be met by the company to end the two week standoff.
On Friday, Justice Terry Patterson found the union and four officials, including national president Jerry Dias, in contempt of court for not complying with a court order to end what’s been determined to be an illegal strike at the west Windsor facility.
The union blockade began on Labour Day to protest the announced closure of the plant in 2020.
Patterson imposed a fine of $75,000 on Unifor and set a deadline of 12:01 a.m. on September 15 to remove the union barricades in his decision on Friday. Failure to do so would lead to fines of $10,000 a day against the union and $1,000 a day against those found in contempt on a go forward basis.
Just ahead of the deadline, Unifor national representative Chris Taylor outlined a list of conditions sent to the company on Saturday evening which Taylor says will allow for a negotiated resolution to the labour action.
Unifor has proposed Nemak meet with the union over three days within a 14-day period beginning September 16 to try to reach a negotiated resolution to the dispute. Unifor also wants Nemak to agree to an expedited arbitration process that will see a decision by no later than October 31 — and both the union and company will abide by the arbitrator’s decision. A final proposal makes it clear Nemak is not to discipline any Unifor member for any issues tied to the labour action.
The union maintains its view that Nemak has violated the collective agreement that was extended in 2016 and secured work at the plant until 2022.
Nemak denies it has broken any terms in the agreement.
Unifor says Nemak has until September 18 to respond to its proposal.
CTV News has reached out to Nemak for comment.
