After a marathon 20 months of negotiations, workers at Laura’s YIG in Ottawa voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new collective agreement with increases to wages and benefit contributions. Covering more than 70 workers, the contract was ratified on November 15, 2010 and runs from March 29, 2009 to November 2014.
“It was a long negotiating process but the bargaining committee worked hard to achieve a fair deal for workers,” said Brian Reid, Director of the Warehouse & Transport sector and the YIG & Valu-mart sector for Local 1000A. “We made monetary gains in wages and benefit contributions, held on to sick day provisions and fixed the part-time wage scale in line with the minimum wage increases.”
Gord Albert, a Staff Representative for Local 1000A and a member of the bargaining committee, said negotiations yielded better contract language and a new wage grid, which was developed with provincial minimum wage increases
and seniority in mind. “What the company wanted to give the workers was far apart from what we got for them,” Albert said. “For us, it is always an improvement when we can move the company past where they wanted to go.”
The bargaining committee also successfully fought against company’s demands to reduce benefits in the pension plan and got commitments for additional contributions. “It was a major achievement for the members,” said Gord Knowles, who works at the store and is a member of the bargaining committee. “We desperately needed those increases to the pension plan.” Additionally, Knowles said the bargaining committee negotiated new language providing workers with protection if the store converts.
Marilyn Trincao, a cashier at Laura’s YIG and a member of the bargaining committee, said it was a long process, complicated by the company’s attitude. “It didn’t feel like they cared about us anymore, the people who are working so hard for them,” said Marilyn Trincao, who works as a cashier and on the service desk at Laura’s YIG.x
