Clear Medical Imaging employees finally have first collective agreement

Employees at Clear Medical Imaging finally have a first collective agreement.

An arbitrator announced the three-year agreement on May 29 after the employer and the union representing its workers entered binding arbitration on March 20.

Unifor Local 2458 secretary/treasurer Mike Kisch said they are glad there is finally a collective agreement in place, but they didn’t get everything they hoped for.

“It’s a great foundation; it definitely levels the playing field,” he said.

“Now we’re working on resolving a few issues that we need to work with Clear Medical Imaging on. We need to basically recreate a relationship.”

The labour dispute started when the workers walked off the job on Oct. 25, 2024, to back demands in their first-ever contract negotiations with the company.

The eight-week-long strike ended on Dec. 20, 2024, after the two sides failed to reach a deal, despite working with a provincial conciliation officer for more than three months.

A forced vote initiated through the Ontario Labour Relations Board was also rejected by the members by 96 per cent, which led to binding arbitration.

Key issues during the labour dispute revolved around wages, benefits, mandatory overtime, job security, and the contracting out of services.

Kisch said they lost around two dozen employees during the negotiations to local hospitals or other clinics.

“Primarily it had to do with the wages, so we’re hoping with this collective agreement, it at least slows that down so we don’t keep losing members, but we completely understand that if you can go to greener pastures, people are going to do that,” he said.

Unifor Local 2458 represents approximately 120 employees who work as x-ray and ultrasound technologists and clerical and administrative staff across 11 Clear Medical Imaging locations in Windsor, LaSalle, Tecumseh, Essex, and Chatham.

Kisch said they want to be a partner with the employer.

“We definitely want Clear Medical to be successful for a few reasons, one being the important services they provide to all of our communities in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent, but also for our members to have good, secure, well-paying jobs,” he said.

- Written by Rusty Thomson/AM800 News.