Canadian Labour Reporter

VIA Rail agreement ratified TORONTO — Members of Unifor, Council 4000 voted to accept a collective agreement with VIA Rail on March 15. The new two-year contract covers 1,700 maintenance workers, on-board service per- sonnel, chefs, sales agents and customer service staff at VIA Rail. Highlights include a two- per-cent wage increase for all workers, increased pension contributions for members of the hybrid plan and new and improved benefits, says the union. "Even while at the bargaining table, we negotiated pandemic wage top-ups, benefits protec- tions, and navigated unprec- edented threats to members' health and safety," says Dave Kissack, Unifor, Council 4000 president. Sarnia, Ont. city workers give strike mandate SARNIA, Ont. — Municipal workers for the City of Sar- nia have given their union an overwhelming strike mandate in votes held over the week of March 8. The workers — who are represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Locals 153, 2713 and 3690 — work for the city in public works, parks and rec- reation and as inside workers. Their combined average strike vote was 97 per cent in favour of taking strike action if neces- sary, says the union. "Our goal in these nego- tiations is to get a fair deal for our members and keep important services running," says Jorge Paiva, president of CUPE 2713, which represents parks and recreation workers. "When the pandemic hit, our members were flexible, they stepped up and took on new jobs to help the city deal with the situation; we want to con- tinue to provide these impor- tant services for the people of Sarnia." Combined, the CUPE lo- cals represent 225 municipal workers who deliver services to the residents of Sarnia. All three of their collective agree- ments expired on Dec. 31, says CUPE. Negotiations are ongoing for all three locals. Each local filed for conciliation, meaning that negotiations will continue with the assistance of a pro- vincially appointed concili- ator who will work with both sides to try and find common ground, says the union. "With this mandate from our members, and the help of the conciliator we hope to get negotiations moving toward a fair deal," says Doug Down- ie, president of CUPE 3690, which represents Sarnia's in- side workers. Workers strike at Coca-Cola Calgary plant CALGARY – About 268 work- ers at the Coca-Cola Refresh- ments Calgary plant went on strike on March 15. The dispute involves mem- bers of Teamsters, Local Union 987 of Alberta who are asking for access to job security and protection from third-party out- sourcing as part of their collec- tive agreement, says the union. The affected union workers voted 94 per cent in favour of strike action on March 4. They are employed in warehouse, pro- duction, distribution and equip- ment service roles. The strike will also likely affect delivery of beverage products to Alberta customers, including restau- rants, grocery and retail stores. "Coca-Cola employees sim- ply want to do their jobs with some level of predictabil- ity from their employer," says Brock Penner, business agent, Teamsters, Local 987. The previous agreement expired on Oct 1, 2020. Team- sters 987 has not had to take strike action since 2004, says the union. Learning & Development C A N A D A Event Partner MARCH 25, 2021 | ONLINE Learning & Development Canada is a transformative one-day virtual event, connecting senior L&D & HR professionals from across the country and industry to provide valuable opportunities, share strategies and solutions to workplace learning challenges, benchmark against their peers in the industry and pursue best practices. 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If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. e analysis contained herein represents the opinion of the authors and should in no way be construed as being either official or unofficial policy of any governmental body. ISSN 0045-5113 Publications Registration 2089 Canadian Labour Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications. Visit www.hrreporter. com for more information. 2 LABOUR BRIEFS Canadian HR Reporter, a Key Media Canada (HR) Ltd. business 2021

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