Employees with GreenShield Canada in Windsor remain on strike, and both the union and company are looking to set the record straight on where talks sit.
Unifor Local 240 members walked off the job just after midnight on March 1 to back contract demands, after both sides had been working to negotiate a new collective agreement since January 15.
Local 240 chairperson Paula Bastien Stedman says that job security and contracting out language are two key issues, and that the employer doesn't seem to be budging.
The affected members are adjudicators, call centre representatives, people who work in accounting, client administration and those who provide IT services.
Executive Vice President, Head of Human Resources & Social Impact at GreenShield, Mila Lucio, said in a statement emailed out to media this week that some of the claims Unifor representatives have made regarding the bargaining process are inaccurate or lack context.
She continued to say GreenShield negotiated in good faith for seven weeks on renewal of the collective agreement, and that their goal was to achieve a sustainable outcome that reflects the central importance of our people.
Lucio said Unifor’s proposals didn't allow for that, and would create significant and unsustainable cost increases.
Bastien Stedman says GreenShield has acquired eight different companies over the last few years, which are sticking points at the table.
She says they believe as a union that their historical work has been outsourced.
"We also did have an issue with one of the acquisitions where they do the exact same work as us. Whether we were misled or they changed course over time remains to be seen, but I think we could've come to an agreement a lot quicker if it didn't take 15 days for the employer to come clean at the table with all of the information that we already knew through our own research," she said.
Bastien Stedman says one big struggling point is that the company believes some IT work isn't within the union's purview, which she vehemently disagrees with, and what the growth of the company will mean for workers.
"We were the payer, now they are a provider company as well. It's diversification, which is important to sustain us, but there were some comments made about the company not being able to contribute to communities as much because of our proposals. I say to that, let's bargain. Let's bargain, because there's not a lot of bargaining going on from what I can see."
She says figuring things out at the table is the only way to solve the impasse.
"I would appreciate it if our company would try not to wage a war with our union. Let's clean up this relationship, let's move forward in a positive manner and grow together. That was always the goal, and all of the other CEOs were able to commit to that, so that's what I'm looking for," Bastien Stedman stated.
There are 600 Local 240 members on strike in Windsor.
- with files from AM800's The Dan MacDonald Show