Signing bonus, wage hikes in each year of new deal: Unifor
Unifor members who work at Canadian National (CN) — formerly CN Savage Alberta Railway — voted 92 per cent on May 7 to ratify a new collective agreement.
The agreement was reached on March 29 and covers 70 members who work as conductors and locomotive engineers based in Grande Prairie and Grande Cache, Alberta.
The new agreement includes a $1,000 signing bonus to active members upon ratification, wage increases of 2.5 per cent effective April 1, 2019; 2.5 per cent effective Jan. 1, 2020; 3 per cent effective Jan. 1, 2021, and three per cent effective Jan. 1, 2022. There are also several benefit improvements and increases to training allowances, according to Unifor.
The new contract expires Dec. 31, 2022, said the union.
“These members operate trains on CN subdivisions in northwestern Alberta and haul several commodities, including lumber, grain and the increasing shipments of frack sand used for the growing demand for shale gas,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor national president.
