THUNDER BAY — About 25 workers at Reliance Home Comfort in the Thunder Bay area are returning to their jobs after a 49-day lockout.
Unifor Local 1999, which represents 830 Reliance workers at 14 Ontario locations, says its members have ratified a new collective agreement.
Picket lines were set up in mid-May after failed contract negotiations and a lockout imposed by the company.
At the time, Reliance said it had bargained in good faith for several days, but that the membership chose not to ratify a tentative agreement which the company said included significant wage and benefit improvements.
After the lockout began, the union said the company brought in replacement workers, mostly from its Barrie office, to continue servicing customers' furnaces and hot water heaters.
According to a statement from Unifor, the new agreement that ends the stalemate includes two additional paid sick days, improvements to the extended health benefits cost-sharing, and a one per cent increase to the matching formula for the group RRSP.
The three-and-a-half-year deal is retroactive to April 1, 2021.
It covers HVAC service technicians, installers, water heater installers, plumbers, electricians and administration staff at 13 locations across Ontario.
Local 1999 President James Tauvette said support from Unifor members across the country was pivotal to what he described as the union's success at the bargaining table.
