The National Representative for Unifor expects the strike at the Compass Minerals Mine in Goderich will be a long one.
Glenn Sonier says one of the issues they're trying to resolve right now involves the company cutting off everyone's benefits at the beginning of the labour dispute. That included retirees, people on disability and people who have been laid off.
The union's position is that it's not fair to penalize people who have nothing to do with the current labour dispute and their benefits should be maintained.
Sonier also says the offer the company presented on the last day of bargaining included mandatory overtime, as well as new language that dealt with the right of the company to schedule workers for up to 72 hours a week. There was also a new proposal that took away the deferred profit-sharing program that was part of the pension plan.
He says some of those things were never part of the bargaining process but just showed up at the last minute.