On strike: Week 17
Seventeen weeks after first walking off the job, the striking workers of the municipally owned ERTH Corp. decided to take their message directly to the shareholders.
Starting with Thursday’s picket in front of Ingersoll Town Hall, the roughly 50 striking workers hope to convince the mayors and councillors of the company’s seven municipal shareholders — Ingersoll, Zorra, East Zorra-Tavistock, South-West Oxford, Norwich, Central Elgin and Aylmer — to take a more direct role in the ongoing negotiations.
“They’re the custodians of the utility and should be putting pressure on the company to resolve this,” said Don MacKinnon, the president of the Power Workers’ Union, which represents the unionized workers of the ERTH Corp. subsidiaries.
The roughly 50 picketers in front of the town hall were a mix of local ERTH workers from Erie Thames Power Lines, Ecaliber, CRU Solutions and Coulter Water Meters and supportive union members from other southwestern Ontario utility companies. Holding flags and signs, the workers were calling for Mayor Paul Holbrough, one of the company directors, to come out and speak to them.
“Where’s our mayor?” asked a megaphone-touting worker. “We want answers.”
