Workers at Country Estates Retirement Home in Lindsay, Ont., join UFCW

Initial vote results held back by employer: Union

Workers at the Country Estates Retirement Home in Lindsay, Ont., are the newest members of United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW), Local 175 after voting to join the union.

In January, an employee at the home reached out to UFCW 175 organizers to help bring the benefits of a union to their workplace, said the union.

At a subsequent meeting, 66 per cent of the retirement home staff — and everyone who attended the meeting — signed a union card. The next day, organizers put in an application for certification to the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB), according to the UFCW.

“This was a difficult work environment for a number of employees,” said Ricardo Bocanegra, UFCW 175 organizer. “Workers were concerned for their job security because of favouritism. They also had a number of other pressing concerns that brought them to the union,” he adds.

Employees voted overwhelmingly to join the union, but the employer delayed the certification process by segregating certain votes. Legal representatives for the retirement home reached out to the union in the weeks that followed to release the segregated ballots, said the union.

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