Bucking a wage-freeze trend set by Labatt in an agreement it reached with the UFCW for its’ Halifax plant a new five year agreement was reached for the Operating Engineers unit at the Labatt Brewery in London, Ontario.
Cam Nelson, Local 2 Union President and the lead negotiator for the Union, stated that the Halifax agreement made winning any increases at all extremely difficult. Pointing out how important it was for Brewery Workers to break the pattern of substituting performance based bonuses for wage increases
Wages were increased by $1.79/hour over the life of the agreement bringing the shift engineer rate to $36.88/hour. Employees will also receive bonuses of up to 3% each year if Company-set targets are met. The formula for calculating pension was also improved by 4% and small improvements made to vision care and life insurance. Nelson thanked the bargaining committee (Drew Jolliffee and Walter Procknow) for making the tough decisions that made getting to an agreement with wage increases possible and the membership which ratified the agreement unanimously.