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Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018
Workers at
Kootenay
Market sign
new contract
ELKFORD, B.C. — United
Food and Commercial Work-
ers Canada (UFCW), Local
1518 members working at the
Kootenay Market in Elkford,
B.C., ratified a new agreement
on Jan. 11 that includes wage
increases.
The 22 employees voted in fa-
vour of a new five-year collective
agreement that brings the start-
ing wage up from $12 an hour to
$13.60 an hour.
The new collective agree-
ment also includes a minimum
wage spread that is tied to the
provincial minimum wage, dis-
tributing the benefits of a rising
minimum wage across the wage
scale while allowing the collec-
tive agreement to be responsive
to legislative changes, according
to UFCW.
"We finally have a progressive
government in B.C. which un-
derstands that working people
need to make a decent living
in order to foster a productive
economy," said Ivan Limpright,
UFCW Canada Local 1518 pres-
ident.
Kootenay Market features
hardware and soft goods along
with grocery, deli, and bakery
products.
Conciliation
for talks at
HopeGrey-
Bruce facility
OWEN SOUND, Ont. — Em-
ployees at HopeGreyBruce
Mental Health and Addictions
Services will enter into con-
ciliation with their employer on
Feb. 13.
The employer delayed the
original conciliation date of Jan.
11 and workers hope a concili-
ator will help them reach a fair
collective agreement, according
to the Ontario Public Service
Employees Union (OPSEU).
The 65 members at Hope-
GreyBruce in Owen Sound,
Ont., voted strongly in favour
of a strike last October, said the
union.
A key concern is that mem-
bers have only received a one per
cent wage increase in the past 10
years. Workers are also asking
for dental benefits, in keeping
with other comparable agencies,
said OPSEU.
"Our members have stood
out in the wind and the snow at
information pickets because we
are serious about our commit-
ment to the workplace and our
community. I know this contract
can be easily settled once it is a
priority," said Andrew Drake,
OPSEU unit steward and bar-
gaining team chair.
MGEU fi les
complaint to
get employers
to bargain
WINNIPEG — The Manitoba
Government and General Em-
ployees' Union (MGEU) filed an
unfair labour practice on Jan. 5
against the employers of about
7,500 health-care support-ser-
vices workers whose contracts
expired on March 31, 2017.
The MGEU wrote twice to the
employer's bargaining represen-
tatives asking for dates for talks.
But the employer said that due to
Bill 29 (legislation that cuts the
number of bargaining units), ne-
gotiations could not begin, said
the union.
The union said it will petition
the Labour Board that the em-
ployers must stop stalling and
begin negotiations immediately.
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LABOUR LENS
A protester shouts slogans outside the Greek parliament in Athens on Jan. 15, during a demonstration
against planned government reforms that will restrict workers' right to strike.
