Wage boosts for highly-sought automotive technicians: IAM
Members of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Automotive Lodge 1857 ratified a new collective agreement with Brown Bros. Ford in Vancouver on April 2.
“One of our specific issues was getting rate lifts for our service technicians,” said Walter Gerlach, IAM District Lodge 250 directing business representative. “There is a growing difficulty in retaining qualified auto service technicians in the Metropolitan Vancouver area, this rate lift addresses that issue. So, our service technicians received a lift of $1 to their hourly rate and a three per cent increase in pension contributions. There were also lifts to hourly rates for accessories technicians, lot personnel and shipping and receiving personnel.”
The three-year agreement provides wage and pension contributions in the first year of 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent in the second and third year respectively, said the union.
Other agreement highlights include flat-rate bonus hours will now include pension contributions, an increased tool allowance, an increased tool insurance, and an improved massage and physiotherapy benefits, said IAM.
The 56 employees at the two Brown Bros. locations include mechanics, parts department personnel, service writers and lot personnel.
IAM represents more than 1,500 automotive workers at dealerships on Vancouver Island, the lower mainland of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland.
