Unifor Local 195 is bringing back at tentative agreement to its members for a ratification vote after reaching a last minute deal with Jamieson Laboratories.
Local president Gerry Farnham tells AM800 News the deal was reached at 11:45pm, just ahead of the 12:01am strike deadline the union had set.
He says it was only in the last couple hours ahead of the strike deadline he felt a strike would be avoided.
"The bargaining committee is obviously happy to have reached a tentative agreement, I mean we're bringing it right down to the wire, 15 minutes prior to the possibility of strike action," says Farnham. "Although very difficult to put this agreement together on behalf of that membership, tough set of beginning for sure. However, the [bargaining] committee is unanimously endorsing this agreement to bring forward to the membership."
Farnham is confident the tentative agreement will sit well with the membership.
"Obviously, the bargaining committee is what we rely on," says Farnham. "They work on the shop floor on an everyday basis and they feel this is a good enough agreement to bring to the membership."
He says the bargaining committee was doing all it could to avoid a strike.
"Nobody wants to take a strike if it's not necessary," says Farnham. "That's usually not good for the company nor the union."
Farnham is keeping details of the agreement under wraps for now until his membership is able to see the deal, but is confident it will be agreeable to the roughly 240 people who work at the plant.
The ratification vote is set for 10am on Sunday at the Local 195 union hall at 3400 Somme Ave. in Windsor.