While talks between the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 227 and the Canadian Hearing Society continue, workers are getting a much-needed lift on the picket line.
The eight workers on strike at the Society's Giles Blvd. E office in Windsor were joined by about 100 unionized municipal workers over the noon hour Friday.
The municipal workers are attending a conference at Caesars Windsor.
"It's been cold. It's been lonely," says Christie Reaume, a staff interpreter now entering her fourth week off the job. "It feels phenomenal -- to have others who have been through what we're going through."
Reaume and her 227 colleagues in 24 offices across the province have been without a contract for four years. They provide the deaf community with everything from audiology services to American sign language interpreters.
Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky, who spoke briefly to the crowd, says she knows first hand 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," she says. "Those that actually access the services say they support the workers."
Society management has been providing the community with some services through the strike, but Gretzky says "those services don't equal what the workers provide to the community."