Higher wages, boosts to shift premiums: USW
The best pay rates in the industry are among significant improvements in a new collective agreement achieved on July 24 by United Steelworkers (USW) members working at Delta Airlines operations in Canada.
USW, Local 1976 members approved the new, five-year contract in ratification votes held across Canada this month. The contract covers more than 300 Delta employees at airports across the country, including ticket and gate agents, baggage handlers and ramp workers.
“With the solidarity and support of our membership, the bargaining committee achieved meaningful contract improvements while also defending our members” defined-benefit pension plan and contracting-out language that maintains job security,” said Steven Hadden, President of USW Local 1976.
The deal provides a 4.5 per cent wage increase in 2018, to be followed by increases of 3.5 per cent in 2019 and three per cent in each of the last three years of the contract, making Delta employees the highest-paid in Canada, said the union.
About 50 per cent of the employees covered by the collective agreement also will receive additional wage increases in the contract’s first year, to address disparities in pay rates in some job classifications. These employees will receive wage increases ranging from 13 per cent to 16 per cent this year, said USW.
Other gains in the new collective agreement include increases in shift premiums and improved vision care and paramedical coverage, according to the union.
