A panel of Ontario judges has rejected an arbitrator's decision to close a Windsor manufacturing plant.
A group of Ontario Divisional Court judges has set aside the ruling made in November 2019 to close Nemak's Windsor facility. The ruling came down Tuesday and was announced Wednesday morning.
In the ruling, Justice D. L. Corbett accepted Unifor's argument that a contract was in place that clearly spelled out the understanding that the work would continue to be done in Windsor. Corbett also said the arbitrator used faulty information from the 2015 contract negotiations to get a different result.
Nemak announced in July 2019 that it would be closing the Windsor plant this summer due to a drop in volumes, and move the jobs to Mexico. Unifor leaders believed this broke the terms of their collective agreement that stipulated employees would take a wage freeze in order to secure a contract to keep the plant open until 2022.
The case will now be returned to the arbitrator.
"Today is a great day for our members at Nemak who spent months waiting patiently for the court to rule on the future of their jobs at the Windsor Aluminum Plant," said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. "This is precisely the outcome our union and our members were fighting for and the ruling could not be any more clear—when you have a collective agreement with workers you have to live up to its terms."
Unifor Local 200 president John D'Agnolo, third from right, Local 444 president Dave Cassidy, second right, and Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, far right, join union members outside the Nemak plant in Windsor, September 3, 2019. Photo courtesy Unifor Local 444/Twitter.
The news of the company's intentions to move the 200 Windsor jobs to Mexico generated much criticism from local labour leaders, as well as elected officials from across the political spectrum. Workers held a blockade outside the plant last October in an effort to force talks to resume.
John D'Agnolo, president of Unifor Local 200, which represents the Nemak workers, praised the members for standing their ground.
"This decision affirms that Nemak is not above the terms of the collective agreement," said D'Agnolo. "Our members showed incredible resilience, courage, and tenacity throughout this dispute and we are now one step closer to a resolution."
The entire ruling can be found here.
---with files from Maureen Revait