Unifor beefing up picket line at Titan Tool

Locked out workers at Windsor’s Titan Tool are calling for answers, saying there is questionable activity at the plant.

Workers at Titan Tool & Die are sending a message Tuesday morning.

“Negotiate a new collective agreement or a closure agreement,” said the president of Unifor Local 195.

“Our members did not take strike action,” says Local 195 president Emile Nabbout. “This company locked us out, and they told us they want to seize operation, and if this is their intention, they need to come back to the table; either they negotiate a collective agreement or negotiate a closure agreement and give the members what they deserve.”

Nabbout says the company recently said it wanted to cease operations at the Howard Avenue plant but alleges there’s been activity recently at the plant.

He’s claiming workers from Futura Tool are going inside Titan Tool to run the press.

Nabbout is calling on the company to come clean with its intentions for the plant.

“This again Titan Tool management failing miserably; they are not telling us the truth; they are not coming forward that what is their real intention here; they locked out those workers,” says Nabbout.

He says the company has been “unethical” and “untruthful” all along.

“They want to seize operation in this facility at Titan Tool, but in the last few days we see the company have some activity going between their facility across the street in Futura, sending people into the plant, and we hear noise inside the facility like the press is running,” he says.

Nabbout says the union has beefed up the picket line in an effort to stop the company.

Tuesday marks day 199 of a lockout. The workers have been locked out since Aug. 11, 2025, after contract talks failed.

In October 2025, the workers rejected 15 pages of concessions from the employer, which included a wage freeze, elimination of cost-of-living language, elimination of retiree benefits, mandatory overtime, and concessions around pensions, among many others.

The union represents 60 members, with 27 active members and 33 other laid-off workers.

Futura is owned by the same company as Titan Tool and Die.

The neighbouring plants are both in the area of Howard Ave. and Charles St.