Coatings firm reaches deal with union
By PIC staff
General coatings Engineered Coated Products Ontario labour laws severance strikes USWUSW resolves issue over worker pay at Engineered Coated Products
BRANTFORD, Ont.—The United Steelworkers and Engineered Coated Products (ECP) have come to an agreement after more than three years of disputes about workers’ pay.
The controversy involved severance pay for 84 workers at the Brantford, Ont. plant, which is owned by parent company Intertape Polymer, a developer and manufacturer of polyolefin, plastic and paper packaging products.
Employees went on strike in August 2008 after Intertape requested a 25 per cent rollback of wages and benefits.
In March this year, the company had said it would close the ECP plant and not pay severance to the workers.
Under a provision in Ontario labour law, a company may avoid mandatory severance pay if it can demonstrate a plant is closing due to a strike.
The USW says the issue was settled after several appeals to Intertape shareholders and demonstrations supported by other labour groups.
The union said it’s now turning its attention to the 20-month strike at a west-Toronto rubber plant, one of the longest in the city’s history.
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