A strike is underway at the Canadian Hearing Society, which has locations all across the province, including North Bay.

This after negotiations with CUPE Local 2073 broke off last night.

The society says management staff will run reduced services at some offices, including Sudbury.

The following are the offices that are open and services that are available at reduced service levels during the strike:
– Open offices: The Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Windsor, Sudbury, London and Peel (Mississauga) offices will be run by management staff.
– Communications devices: Clients can purchase communications devices at the open offices (see above) or online at www.chs.ca/shop.
– Interpreting Services: Priority will be given to clients in need of critical services, namely emergency and essential events. Booking processes remain the same.
– Counselling Services: A triage service for CONNECT and General Support Services will be available during the strike; however, regular counselling services, are not available.
– Employment Services: Critical support will be provided to clients at risk of losing their jobs, but other employment services are not available.
– Hearing Health Care services:

Basic hearing aid repair services are available at the Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Windsor, Sudbury, and Peel (Mississauga) offices.

Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialists at the Toronto office are accepting patients.

Audiology services, including hearing tests, hearing aid adjustments, and speech-language pathology appointments, are not available.

The employer says key items of the contract they offered included retroactive wage increases, maintaining benefits, a buyout of unused sick days and language to bring the number of annual paid sick days to industry-appropriate levels.

The 227 unionized workers include counsellors, literacy instructors, audiologists, speech language pathologists and interpreters.