Guilbault truck drivers get wage hike; Waterloo, Ont. inside employees agree to strike
ORNGE Paramedics vote to strike
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — ORNGE Paramedics in Ontario voted on May 6 in favour of strike action if workers don’t receive an exemption from Bill 124 that caps their salaries to one per cent.
“Enough is enough,” says Jerry Dias, Unifor national president. “We can’t keep telling people how essential they are, how important they are, and then pass legislation that takes these paramedics and puts them into a separate bucket than all the other paramedics in this province.”
The union is calling on the Ontario government to remove the one-per-cent wage cap imposed by Bill 124. Land ambulance services in Ontario have all negotiated collective agreements with higher wage increases, says the union.
Last month, Thunder Bay paramedics ratified their collective agreement which has an 8.5-per-cent wage increase over four years, says Unifor.
Should the province not exempt paramedics from Bill 124, the union will start the process of negotiating an essential services agreement (ESA). An ESA determines what services paramedics provide are essential and are not essential, says the union.
Guilbault truck drivers get wage hike
LAVAL, Que. – About 160 city drivers at Groupe Guilbault in Laval, Que. gained wage increases on May 6 even before the collective agreement expired.
The employer raised the hourly rate of its professional drivers by $1.89 per hour to $24 per hour. Workers will see their evening premium increase from $0.50 per hour to $1.50 per hour and for those who work at night from $0.75 per hour to $2.50 per hour, says Teamsters, Local 106.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have been asking transportation companies to increase truckers’ wages because truckers ensure the well-being of society as a whole,” says Jean Chartrand, president of Teamsters, Local 106. “Groupe Guilbault executives had assured me that they would do so and I appreciate that they kept their promise.”
Waterloo, Ont. inside employees agree to strike
Waterloo, Ont. — With record voter turnout, inside workers for the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ont., represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Local 1883 voted 90 per cent in favour of authorizing their union to take strike action if they cannot reach a deal.
“We are looking for a contract that protects our members and the services that people rely on,” says Noelle Fletcher, president of CUPE 1883. “In the middle of a pandemic, the region decided to close childcare centres, centres that are among the only ones who provide care to children with special needs.”
In addition to the closure of childcare centres and cuts to other services, the Regional Municipality of Waterloo has been eliminating full-time jobs while increasing the number of temporary positions, says the union.
Negotiations between the two parties will continue with a provincially appointed conciliation officer, however no upcoming dates have been scheduled, says CUPE.
Their last collective agreement was a four-year contract that expired on June 30, 2020.
CUPE 1883 represents more than 900 inside workers, whose services include public health, IT, finance, housing, museums, libraries, bylaw enforcement, engineering, airport, landfill, transportation and social services.
