Water workers at Enwin Utilities in Windsor have ratified a 42-month deal averting a strike just hours ahead of the deadline.
Business Manager with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 636 Brian Manninger says the two sides reached a deal around 5pm Tuesday. It calls for improvements in wages and benefits and expires in December 2018.
Enwin still has to ratify the agreement.
" Very difficult talks. We spent the better part of two days straight talking," says Manninger.
He says the union reluctantly took it to the members and didn't recommend ratification, but the 53 workers voted in favour.
"It was a choice of accepting the deal or going out on the street for who knows how many weeks."
Manninger says the ratification meeting took about an hour and a half.
"There were a lot of questions, a lot of pissed off people because they thought they were being treated second-class," he says. "Windsor Utilities workers were transferred to Enwin about four years ago, and they felt they were being treated differently than the hydro employees."
The workers were set to walk off the job as of 12:01am Wednesday.
