City stockpiling 3,500 tonnes of salt in Windsor Arena

The City of Windsor is stockpiling salt at the old Windsor Arena.

Nearly 100 trucks have hauled 3,500 tonnes of salt into the Barn.

The city is preparing for the worst-case scenario: a strike at Windsor Salt.

Windsor Salt and Unifor Local 1959 are negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.

The current agreement expires at 12 a.m. Tuesday.

Mark Winterton of the city's public works department said what the city is doing is "not underhanded" and within its contract with Windsor Salt, the city's lone salt supplier.

Winterton said the city is also filling up storage facilities on Central and Crawford avenues.

The mountain of salt at Windsor Arena nearly touches the scoreboard hanging over what would be centre ice.

Winterton said the Barn "isn't exactly designed for salt storage."

He said the city "didn't want to publicize we're using Windsor Arena, because it's a security issue."

However, several Windsor media outlets were posting photos to social media websites throughout the day.

Calls to Windsor Salt and Unifor were not immediately returned.