The 200 white-collar workers with the Town of Mount Royal have a new six-year agreement covering the period from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2025. It calls for wage increases of 2.75 per cent in 2020 and 2.65 per cent in 2021.
For 2022 to 2025, members will receive the equivalent of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Montreal plus 0.5 per cent for an increase of no less than 2 per cent.
Bargaining centred mainly on better life-work balance, greater scheduling flexibility, the lowering of the number of years’ service from 15 to 10 years for a 5th week of vacation to take effect, improvements to special leave and increased compensation further to the enactment of Bill 15 to make up for the losses attributable to a sharp increase in employee contributions to the pension plan.
The union is also pleased to welcome 20 members from public safety to its ranks.
“Although the tentative agreement only received 65 percent support, which in our view, was due to the employer’s refusal to accept our demands for flexible scheduling, the bargaining committee is nonetheless satisfied with the results. Talks took place in an open-minded atmosphere and were focused on finding solutions acceptable to both parties,” declared Benoît Audette, vice-president of SFMM-CUPE.
SFMM (CUPE) represents close to 10,000 municipal and paramunicipal white-collar workers who work in the City of Montreal and in eleven reconstituted municipalities on Montreal Island and with paramunicipal agencies and organizations. SFMM (CUPE) is the largest union in the municipal sector in Quebec.