At a general meeting with their union on Monday, the approximately 76 inside workers in Saint-Lambert, Quebec voted 97% in favour of the employer’s offer to renew their collective agreement. Their new eight-year contract runs from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2027.
The wage hikes are as follows : 2.5 % in 2020, 2.25 % in 2021, 3.7 % in 2022, 4% each year for 2023 and 2024, 2.5% to 4% based on the Consumer Price Index for each year in 2025 and 2026, and 2.5% in 2027.
The new contract will also merge the sick leave and floating holiday banks, creating just one that calls for 14 days per year, which are paid and divisible. It also provides for a temporary secondment process whereby employees have access to a greater number of positions, flexible scheduling and four-day work weeks over 12 weeks.
“Our mobilization campaign enabled us to wrap up these negotiations. The results benefit our members and will make it easier to attract and retain employees. In the end, it will certainly stabilize services to the public,” commented Karine Laprise, president of the Syndicats regroupés des employés municipaux, SREM-CUPE 306.
These employees are loan attendants, documentation technicians, urban planning inspectors, engineering technicians, leisure coordinators, secretaries, receptionists, day camp facilitators, environmental officers and many more.
CUPE 306 has more than 2000 members representing 350 different positions. They work in Boucherville, Brossard, Longueuil, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville and Saint-Lambert, which are part of suburban Longueuil. The SREM oversees the enforcement of about a dozen collective agreements for their members, who are office employees, technicians, professionals, school crossing guards and pool employees. This new agreement only concerns 76 members working with the Town of Saint-Lambert.