Negotiations between the Canadian Hearing Society and their unionized workers have broken off.
Talks stopped Saturday after four days between the CHS and members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2073. 227 employees in 24 offices across Ontario have been off the job since March 6.
"We tried in good faith to reach an agreement with the CHS," said CUPE National Representative Barbara Wilker-Frey in a statement. "We take our responsibility to find solutions in a strike situation very seriously. We entered these four days of talks with the aim of doing that. We made significant moves to meet the employer's stated needs. But we were faced with an employer still more committed to gutting contract rights than ending this strike and restoring services to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community."
Eight of the members who are affected by the strike work at the Society’s Giles Blvd. E office in Windsor. They were joined by about 100 unionized municipal workers over the noon hour Friday in a solidarity rally. Among those who attended was MPP Lisa Gretzky (NDP-Windsor West), who said she is aware first hand of the value of the services the workers provide.
“We had a rally at Queen’s Park to save the schools for the deaf, and through my office, we actually used the workers at CHS to come and provide interpretation services,” said Gretzky. “Those that actually access the services say they support the workers.”
In a statement of their own late Saturday night, CHS stated they were "very disappointed" in the developments.
"Over the past few days, we thought both sides were making progress that would lead to an agreement," said CHS vice-president Gary Malkowski. "CHS was hopeful the parties would reach a deal that was in the best interest of all our employees and would get them back to work."
CUPE members have been working without a new contract for four years.
---with files from Adelle Loiselle---
