Deal includes $12,000 signing bonus for full-time workers: Unifor
Unifor members at Vopak voted 80 per cent in favour of their new collective agreement on Oct. 2, putting an end to more than three months of strike action.
“We were able to obtain significant improvements in our working conditions, bringing them into line with those in the industry,” says Renaud Gagné, Unifor’s Quebec director.
Highlights of the agreement include a salary increase from $27.55 to $35.20 an hour for employees with three or more years of service, which represents 85 per cent of the workforce. More junior employees will join their coworkers on a salary scale spread over three years, says the union.
The deal is a four-year contract, with more than two years already elapsed. It runs from June 1, 2017 to June 30, 2021. A signing bonus of $12,000 for full-time employees was obtained, while part-time and probationary employees will receive $4,000, says Unifor.
Other gains include double time for overtime starting July 1, 2020, a contribution of $0.05 per hour for the paid education leave program and an increase to five per cent (from four per cent) for the employer’s contribution to the pension plan upon signing, rising to 6.5 per cent as of July 1, 2020, says the union.
Vopak Terminals of Eastern Canada employs about 30 Unifor members working at the company’s oil terminals in Montreal and Quebec City.
