Vitamin company workers walk out over wage dispute
Members of Unifor Local 195 begin picketing Jamieson Laboratories
Wages are the point of dispute that has led to unionized workers at Jamieson plants in Windsor rejecting the company’s latest contract offer and going on strike.
On Sunday, about 200 employees represented by Unifor Local 195 began round-the-clock picketing at the Jamieson Laboratories Ltd. locations on Rhodes Drive and Twin Oaks Drive.
The strike started immediately after the employees rejected the tentative deal that had been reached by the vitamin company and Unifor Local 195’s bargaining unit last week.
In a statement, the company expressed surprise that the agreement wasn’t approved by the membership.
“Over the past three months, management and union have been collaborating to develop what we collectively believed to be an attractive agreement,” the company stated.
The offer was rejected by a vote of 57 per cent.
Unifor Local 195 president Gerry Farnham was also surprised that the deal wasn’t ratified.
“(Union leadership) felt it was a fair enough offer to bring forward to the membership,” he said after the vote.
The average wage of the unionized Jamieson employees is $22 an hour. Farnham said the tentative three-year deal included a lump-sum payment of $1,100, a 50-cent wage increase in the second year, and another 50-cent wage increase in the third year.
“The employees, the membership, felt that should be higher,” Farnham said.
The striking workers quickly established picket lines at the entrances to the Jamieson properties at 4025 Rhodes Dr. and 9650 Twin Oaks Dr.
Despite cold winds and temperatures that dipped to the freezing mark, the unionized employees kept a presence on the lines through the night — with the help of blankets and hot coffee.
Farnham said that if the company is willing to return to the bargaining table, the union is also willing. Otherwise, the union stands behind its membership, he said.
Meanwhile, the company stated that it is “currently enacting our contingency plans and evaluating next steps.”
“At Jamieson, we greatly value the contributions of our unionized workforce and all of our staff. We have been manufacturing natural products for 95 years, and the Windsor community has played a vital role in the company’s growth and longevity.”
Not all workers at Jamieson are unionized. When the U.S.-based private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors, LLC purchased the company in early 2014, Jamieson counted 470 employees in Windsor — only 220 of which were represented by Unifor Local 195.
Jamieson started as a company in 1922. Its Windsor plants are its primary manufacturing facilities. Windsor-made Jamieson products are distributed to more than 30 countries around the world.