This Wednesday, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 5197 signed along with the employer’s representatives a new collective agreement for its 32 blue-collar members in the Town of Saint-Georges in Beauce. The seven-year agreement covers the period from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2025.
A tentative agreement was reached last December 8 after two years of bargaining and conciliation. Some 82% of the blue-collar workers voted in favour of the agreement at a general meeting on December 16.
The new collective agreement amended the pension plan as per the requirements of Bill 15, in addition to improving the wage calculation scale used to determine benefits. The agreement standardizes the wage rate when workers are hired and indicates that team leader positions will be offered based on seniority.
“This agreement firms up our labour relations and caps several years of very constructive work by the union. First, we joined CUPE in March 2014 with the support of union representative Mathieu Dumont. We subsequently collaborated with CUPE representatives Benoit Gosselin, Yanick Labrecque and Marc-André Roy, assistant director Marie-Hélène Bélanger and several other pay equity and pension plan resource persons. CUPE’s expertise in municipal circles is indispensable,” explained Éric Genesse, President of CUPE 5197.