Unifor members at Community Living Dryden-Sioux Lookout vote 100 percent in favour of potential strike action

Tim Brody - Editor

 Unifor members employed at Community Living Dryden-Sioux Lookout (CLDSL) have voted 100 percent in favour of potential strike action, if necessary, to achieve new collective agreements. 
Unifor shared in a Feb. 19 media release, “Unifor Locals 324-12 and 324-16 represent about 120 members in both Dryden and Sioux Lookout and delivered the strike votes at union information meetings held on February 17 and 18th. The current contracts expired on August 31, 2025 and subsequent contract negotiations with the employer broke down on November 20th.”
Katrina Peterson, Unifor Local 324 President, said, “These strike votes were our members’ reaction to unresolved issues and the employer offering lump-sum payments instead of general wage increases in some years of their proposed new contracts. For anyone to be offered a zero with the kind of inflation we’ve experienced is absolutely unacceptable.” Peterson added, “Inflation has risen almost 19 percent over the last 5 years and as a result, Unifor has successfully negotiated fair wage increases with several healthcare and social services agencies across the region. I would say this employer has been fair in the past, but seriously, you can’t say you care about your staff while watching their pay cheques get stretched thinner year after year and then offer them token wage increases and even wage freezes.”
 Stephen Boon, Unifor Northern Area Director, said, “We fully updated our Dryden and Sioux Lookout memberships on the status of negotiations as we head into contract talks next week and to say they weren’t happy is a major understatement. Wage increases that partially offset the impact of crippling inflation is obviously the number one issue, but we also have other big hurdles left related to critical items such as seniority recognition and serious safety concerns related to forced 24-hour overtime shifts.”
Boon added, “We are scheduled to meet with a conciliator during talks next week and are committed to finalizing new agreements consistent with gains made at other Unifor healthcare and social services negotiations. Our memberships have expressed solid support for their bargaining committees, and we informed them we will continue to work to achieve fair deals in an attempt to minimize any disruptions to the people they are committed to serve. If conciliation fails to produce tentative agreements, mediated talks are still possible. However, failing that, our memberships will begin preparations for potential strike action as early as next month.”