Bargaining successes

Press Release

Each year, USW members at hundreds of workplaces across Canada, covering virtually every sector of the economy, negotiate strong collective agreements that protect health and safety and improve wages, benefits and working conditions. Some of these recent settlements include:

Local 1-306 • Whey to go! Dairy workers complete udderly successful negotiations

A six-year contract for members who produce and deliver Agropur dairy products in Miramichi, N.B., includes total wage hikes of 18.53%, additional adjustments of $2-an-hour in the first year and $1.50-an-hour in the second year, benefits improvements that are coupled with reduced premiums, higher shift premiums and the introduction of a 12-hour shift related to a production expansion.

Local 7106-06 • Stumped for decades, wood workers whittle away knotty wage gap

Members who produce wood chips for pulp production at Canadian Kraft Paper Industries in The Pas, Man., prevailed in a two-decade struggle for wage parity at the plant. A four-year agreement provides total wage hikes of 18%, including 12% in the first two years, which will increase top hourly rates to a range of $37.29 to $49.31 over the term. Overtime provisions also have been improved.

Local 9602 • Refusing to throw in the trowel, concrete workers cement big gains

Members at concrete producer Ciment McInnis in Port-Daniel–Gascons, Que., won wage increases of 16% over three years, as well as significant increases in weekend work premiums. The contract improves holiday provisions, introduces new paid leave in recognition of the long commutes of workers in the isolated Gaspé region, and notes plans for investments to upgrade the operations.

Local 2020-05 • Office workers Excel in negotiations, reach cubi-cool deal

Office, professional and technical workers at the Sudbury, Ont., operations of mining giant Vale reached a four-year agreement with total wage increases of 14% and a $3,500 signing bonus. The contract provides significant pension gains, stronger health and safety language, new protections for workplace fairness, increased shift premiums and meal allowances, stronger job posting and vacation rights, and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation has been added as a paid holiday.

Local 1-405 • Credit union workers leverage solidarity, settle accounts

Members at StellerVista Credit Union branches in Castlegar and Slocan Park, B.C., ratified a three-year agreement in late September after standing strong on the picket line for nearly five months to resist concession demands. The contract provides an $8,500 lump-sum payment, a 5% wage increase in the second and third years and secures benefits that were under attack by the employer.

The USW Local 2020-05 bargaining committee, representing office, professional and technical workers at mining giant Vale in Sudbury. Ont., negotiated a four-year contract with significant gains on wages, pensions, health and safety and more.

Local 7625 • Plane and simple: Aircraft manufacturing workers uplifted by first-class deal

Members at Mecachrome Canada in Mirabel, Que., who manufacture and assemble aircraft components, negotiated a four-year, 10-month contract providing wage increases ranging from 21.95% to 24.75%. The agreement improves provisions on vacations, bereavement leave, scheduling and Steelworkers Humanity Fund contributions, and raises overtime pay to 160% of regular wages and to 200% if the overtime work is mandatory or occurs on a holiday.

Local 2699-5 • Machinists stay sharp, grind out first contract with new owner

Members achieved wage increases of 8.25% over three years in their first negotiations with Vulcan Metals, owner of the former Bradken machine shop operations in London, Ont. The contract improves health and welfare benefits, holidays and floater days, and provides a $1,000 payment to each member as an allowance for work clothing and personal protective equipment.

Local 446M • Hoist and winch makers raise their game, and wages

A three-year agreement provides solid pay and benefit improvements for members at Timberland Equipment in Woodstock, Ont., who manufacture one-of-a kind industrial and cable equipment such as winches, hoists, sheaves and derricks. The contract includes total wage hikes of 9.5%, higher shift premiums, a shoe allowance increase to $250 and $350 for eyeglasses. Members include fabricators, machinists, welders and painters.

Local 2009 • Legal aid workers make strong case, win first settlement

Workers at Prisoners’ Legal Services, a free legal clinic for people in federal and provincial prisons in British Columbia, won strong, comprehensive language in their first collective agreement. The four-year contract includes health benefits; paid days for sick leave, gender-affirming care, gender-based violence leave, leave for traditional Indigenous rights, personal days and bereavement leave; a territorial acknowledgement and a subsidy for parking or transit costs.

Local 2008 • Door/staircase makers answer the bell, take a step up

A three-year contract for members at Groupe Intermat in Gatineau, Que., who manufacture doors, staircases and mouldings, includes total wage hikes between 13% and 14%. The agreement will provide an additional paid sick day, a $2-per-hour premium for workplace trainers and increased allowances for work boots and uniforms, and an employer contribution of up to $1,000 to match employee pension contributions to the Quebec Federation of Labour’s Solidarity Fund.

Local 2009 • Cooler manufacturers earn ice things with stone-cold bargaining

Total wage increases of 12% over three years were won by members at Aqua-Pak Styro Containers in Surrey, B.C., who manufacture insulated boxes and packaging to protect food and other temperature-sensitive products. The contract also improves benefits, health and safety language, protection of bargaining unit work and the grievance procedure, and provides gender-based violence leave, ceremonial/cultural leave and apprenticeship opportunities.

Local 7531 • Pulp and paper equipment makers turn a new page

Members at Technologie de fibre Aikawa in Lennoxville, Que., who manufacture screening and refining equipment for the pulp and paper industry, ratified a four-year contract with wage hikes between 5% and 10% in the first year and between 7.8% and 10.5% over the following three years. Shift premiums have increased, an additional paid day off has been added and the employer will increase its contribution to the workers’ group RRSP administered by the Quebec Federation of Labour’s Solidarity Fund.

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