Deal includes raises, benefit cost sharing for dependants, signing bonus: Union
United Food and Commercial Workers Canada (UFCW) Local 1518 employees at Hornby Island Co-op ratified a new contract May 1.
The union members at Hornby Island in B.C. relied upon Ucluelet Co-op’s contract for cross classification language. It also drew support from Port Alberni Co-op’s collective agreement for the newly added sunset clause for discipline, said UFCW.
“The fact that other co-ops are unionized helps them pull each other up,” said Ashley Campbell, union representative for UFCW 1518. “The collective agreements get stronger with each set of negotiations, and members’ lives improve as a result.”
The inclusion of cross-classification language was important according to Campbell, because it enables members to pick up hours by seniority in other departments if their hours are lacking.
The four-year contract brings a wage increase of two per cent each year, retroactive to the date of expiry. It also includes 50-50 cost sharing for benefit coverage for dependants, where before dependants had no coverage. Members also received a $100 signing bonus, said the union.
The Hornby Island Co-op — which began serving the island as a general store in 1955 — is owned and controlled by its members.
