It’s officially the end of Titan Tool & Die Limited in Windsor. On Wednesday, Unifor Local 195 met with the workers at the union hall on Somme Avenue to hand out severance pay. The workers were locked out by the company last August after contract talks failed. They spent close to 11 and a half months on the picket line before the company and union reached a deal. As AM800 news reported last month, the dispute ended on July 24 after the union secured severance pay for its workers. Local 195 President Emile Nabbout says Wednesday’s gathering was emotional. He says on top of the severance pay, the union was able to secure unemployment insurance for the workers. “We were able to get for them is we established that they are entitled to receive unemployment insurance during this lockout because we presented the case to EI Canada that those individuals with not fault of their own, have been forced to be on the layoff and not necessary to be locked out,” he says. Nabbout says the union continues to assist Titan Tool members. “We’ll be finding work for those workers, and already we have found lots of work for many of those members who want to continue working,” says Nabbout. He says the workers went through a lot during the lockout, but they stuck together. “Sometimes in the workplace people they go to work and they don’t get to know each other, but in the 350 days on the picket line, 24/7, they connect, they get to know each other, they become a family, and yesterday it was a very emotional day for many of those members,” he says. At the time of the lockout, the union represented 60 members, including 27 active employees and 33 laid-off workers. Following the July deal, the union removed all picket signs, barriers, and trailers from the plant on Howard Avenue.
