Laferté employees in Quebec sign new collective agreement

Contract provides higher wages, better work-life balance: UFCW

Laferté employees in Quebec sign new collective agreement
The new contract also provides a work schedule with employees’ hours for the following week that will be available before 4 p.m. on Tuesday of each week, says UFCW. Google Street View

United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) Canada, Local 500 members working at Laferté renovation centres in Saint-Hyacinthe and Drummondville, Que. achieved a new union contract on Sept. 9 that provides better wages and improved work-life balance.

Under the new collective agreement, minimum wage rates have increased by 6.25 per cent to 32 per cent and maximum rates will rise by 14 per cent to 32 per cent, depending on job categories. As well, the employer has agreed to include part-time employees with limited availability in the UFCW Québec Dental Plan and will pay $0.18 per hour worked for these employees, says the union.

The new contract also provides a work schedule with employees’ hours for the following week that will be available before 4 p.m. on Tuesday of each week, says UFCW.

The agreement will allow two workers to agree to switch their schedules in the same week with prior authorization from their manager, part-time workers with limited availability can request unpaid leave for up to three days (consecutive or not) from October of one year to March of the following year, not including the holiday period and eligible regular workers can bank up to 120 of their overtime hours in a time bank and withdraw them in the form of paid leave or transfer them to their QFL Solidarité Registered Retirement Savings Plan, says the union.

UFCW 500 represents more than 37,000 members at more than 675 workplaces in Quebec.

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