Workers at the Good Humor-Breyers ice cream factory in Simcoe say the negotiating tactics of their parent company Unilever is unfairly targeting women.
About 300 workers went on strike over the Labour Day weekend.
Of those, 100 are women. They make about $21 an hour. But if Unilever gets its way, that hourly rate would be reduced by $4.50 an hour. Employees say that wage is equivalent to what they made back in 1995.
Marie Vervaet has worked at the factory for 18 years. “It might happen this time, the wage cuts for us women. But the next contract… it might the operators, it might be the engineers, it might be the maintenance.”
Unilever spokesperson Katharine Williams released a statement saying: “We are looking at light labour in the negotiating process but we are not targeting the group because they are women. We are looking at the skill set within light labour.”
Employees argue the strike is dividing the unionized workers who make an hourly wage and the non-unionized workers who earn a salary. They say about 20 salaried employees cross the picket line each morning.
Earlier this week two picketers were hit by delivery truck when another company tried to cross the picket line. They weren’t injured, but the workers’ union has now implemented its own rules for safely slowing productivity.
“We want to continue to ensure that our members are safe on the line and that the community is also aware of what we’re out here doing,” says Matt Davenport, who represents the UFCW Local 175.
The two sides have agreed to talk later this week, but employees aren’t hopeful about the outcome.
“It’s left a really bitter taste in my mouth,” says Vervaet. “I thought that they cared but they don’t care at all.”
