Best Theratronics workers end 9-month strike, ratify agreement

Striking workers for Unifor Local 1541 in Kanata. Workers at Best Theratronics Ltd. have been on strike for five months. (Unifor/Video)

Workers at Best Theratronics Ltd. in Kanata, Ont. will return to work after ratifying a new agreement over nine months after walking off the job.

Unifor, the union representing more than 40 employees at the manufacturing facility, says workers voted unanimously to ratify the new agreement on Sunday.

The union says the agreement comes with an 11 per cent wage increase, with some workers returning to work as soon as Monday.

“This was a historic strike in Unifor’s books, highlighting the need for tougher labour laws that protect collective bargaining,” said Unifor president Lana Payne in a news release release.

The workers at the manufacturing facility went on strike on May 1, 2024 and had been without a contract since 2023. About a dozen workers represented by the Public Services Alliance of Canada (PSAC) walked off the job 10 days later.

The vote likely brings an end to a battle between the employees and the company’s owner after the employer previously proposed contracts with no wage increases.

Unifor had been calling on the provincial and federal government to step in to resolve the strike over concerns about the state of the facility. The union alleged the company was using non-union employees during the strike and had refused to negotiate in good faith.

The company’s owner, Krish Suthanthiran, had been critical of the strike, accusing the union of harming his business and hurting the financial state of the facility.

Suthanthiran confirmed in an email the agreement was ratified and operations will restart on Monday.

Best Theratronics, located on March Road, manufactures external beam radiation therapy units, self-contained blood-irradiators and cyclotrons. The medical devices are often used for patients undergoing cancer radiation therapy.

The company is listed as a nuclear facility by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), which had ordered the company to cease operations of any particle accelerators it possesses and the use of any nuclear substances for manufacturing after an investigation into the company’s finances last year.

The CNSC had previously said there are no operational activities occurring at the facility and there is no risk to the public or the environment.