Wage increases and improved contract language are just some of the gains in a new collective agreement for the 54 Unifor Local 444 members at GFL Environmental in Windsor.
“Congratulations to Local 444 members for persevering in tough negotiations to achieve a deal that properly recognizes their contribution,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.
The three-year contract includes wage increases of $1.25 per hour in the first year, followed by a 1% increase in each of the remaining two years. Local 444 members also received a $750 signing bonus.
Last year upon the completion of provincial bargaining, the restrictions in place meant we did a one year roll over collective agreement that was ratified by the membership with a wage increase that is due to expire on March 31, 2022.
Where we are at
Your national bargaining committee had plans to convene in Toronto the last week of January to commence negotiations. With the current pandemic status and the multiple restrictions, been put in place is making us reevaluate the timing of negotiations.
Bargaining between Unifor Council 4000 and Local 100 with VIA Rail opened up virtually on January 17, 2022.
Contracts for more than 2,000 members expired on December 31, 2021. The two local unions will bargain separately.
Unifor National President Jerry Dias says, “Members should have the utmost faith in their bargaining teams who are experienced and skilled. They have been working diligently throughout the pandemic and ensured a fair contract was negotiated for all in 2020-2021.”
Bargaining between Unifor Council 4000 and Local 100 with VIA Rail opened up virtually on January 17, 2022.
“Members should have the utmost faith in their bargaining teams who are experienced and skilled,” Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Our members have been working diligently throughout the pandemic and ensured a fair contract was negotiated for all in 2020-2021.”
In the year since the signing of the last agreement, Unifor members in rail continued to work while keeping travellers safe, comfortable and delivering a high quality mode of transportation.
MONTREAL — Bargaining between Via Rail and Unifor Locals representing 2000 members opened up virtually on January 17, 2022.
“Members should have the utmost faith in their bargaining teams who are experienced and skilled,” Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Our members have been working diligently throughout the pandemic and ensured a fair contract was negotiated for all in 2020-2021.”
PRINCE GEORGE-Two of the country’s largest pulp and paper unions, Unifor and the Public and Private Workers of Canada (PPWC), have reached a tentative deal with Canfor that establishes the pattern for Western Canadian forestry.
Unifor leaders joined health care union leaders and opposition party leaders in Ontario to demand urgent action on the crisis in hospitals in a virtual news conference on January 10.
The emergency summit was convened by Ontario Liberal leader Stephen Del Duca, and included Unifor Assistant to the President Katha Fortier and Health Care Director Andy Savela.
Are you in the market for new wheels this year? The 2022 union made vehicle list is out and it is your shopping guide to ensure you support vehicles made by union members.
VANCOUVER—The controversial plan to force hundreds of container trucks out of the Metro Vancouver port transportation system will cause chaos in a system already under unique pressure from the pandemic, flooding, and supply chain issues, says Unifor.
“Without action from Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, gridlock will overtake Vancouver’s ports,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Millions of British Columbians rely on the efficient operation of their ports. Ignoring the issue has only made matters worse.”
JOLIETTE, QUEBEC – Members of the production and office units of Unifor Local 177 have unanimously rejected a management offer presented at a recent union meeting.
The employer’s offer came in the wake of a bargaining blitz held in the days leading up to Christmas. Unfortunately, the parties were unable to reach a tentative agreement at that time, mainly because of the employer’s continuing demands for concessions deemed unacceptable to the workers.
TORONTO – Keeping children, education workers and the community safe when some students return to class this week starts with the buses that provide transport to Ontario schools, says Canada’s top school bus driver union.
“Keeping schools safe for students, staff, and for their families when they return home, means full protections for all involved - from the time students board the bus, until the time they get home,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias says.
TORONTO – Top executives at Canada’s grocery giants have been paid millions in bonuses while continuing to deny pandemic pay to frontline essential grocery workers.
“These same executives took away $2 an hour pandemic pay from their workers after only a few weeks of the first wave back in June 2020,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “The CEO’s and top execs continue to reap the rewards of COVID-19 boosted sales while their workers face the risks to keep food on the table for Canadians.”
2021 has been a year of challenges and triumphs and once again, thanks to your unwavering solidarity our union persevered. Watch Jerry Dias’s video message to our Unifor family and stay safe.
2021 has been a year of challenges and triumphs and once again, thanks to your unwavering solidarity our union persevered. Watch Jerry Dias’s video message to our Unifor family and stay safe.
As families across Canada continue to struggle to put food on the table, a situation made harder by both the pandemic and the holiday season, Unifor is donating $135,000 to 48 food banks across Canada
“People are in need, and we hope these donations help address that need,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias said.
“The reality is, we shouldn’t need food banks in the first place. Families rely on food banks because they have no other options.”
Long-term care workers at Sarnia’s Trillium Villa Nursing Home rallied and called on their community for support on Wednesday as part of escalating actions across southwestern Ontario after talks with employers broke down.
Container truckers at Aheer Transportation and Prudential Transportation overwhelmingly ratified a pattern agreement avoiding a potential strike at Canada’s largest port.
The agreement helps Unifor truckers achieve some the best wages and benefits at the port.
“Unifor’s pattern agreement has set the standard in Metro Vancouver’s container trucking industry for years,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Truckers deserve an agreement that reflects their significant contribution to our economy.”
All Unifor wants this season is for the federal government to cooperate and get the important things done. Why not start with the commitments you have in common?
That’s Unifor’s message to Prime Minister Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and all MPs and Senators, hand-delivered as a feature in this quarter’s iPolitics print magazine.
Workers in Canada need a reliable, stable government to deliver on the shared goals that were set out in the 2021 federal election.
Unifor Local 672 SGS Canada Inc. workers voted 89% to ratify a new three-year collective agreement Dec. 14, 2021 in Sarnia, Ont.
“Congratulations to Local 672,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “The bargaining team needs to be applauded for never wavering on their principles and negotiating a solid collective agreement for the membership.”
SGS Canada provides inspection, verification, testing and certification services for industrial enterprises on a contract basis.
Unifor’s hospitality and gaming sector met virtually this past week to review the sector’s accomplishments and remaining economic challenges.
“Unifor warned that the hospitality and gaming sector would be hit first, hit hardest and take the longest to recover,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias told the council. “Sadly, what we predicted proved all too accurate.”
For the first year of COVID-19, virtually every gaming sector worker in the country was laid off. At hotels and restaurants, lay off rates were between 80% and 100%.
To: Local union presidents, recording secretaries, treasurers, NEB, national staff
Re: A holiday message to our Unifor family
We can hardly believe that it is mid-December and that 2021 is about to come to a close. We have all had a busy, tiring, eventful year that was full of both challenges and victories.
As we end another year under the cloud of this pandemic, we reflect on our new normal and the many ways your unwavering solidarity persevered. Workers fought back this year, and in many cases, they won.
OTTAWA – Unifor is kicking off a weeklong federal lobby to communicate urgent repairs needed to fix Canada’s broken Employment Insurance (EI) system.
“There is no time to waste when it comes to fixing EI. Workers across the country are running out of benefits and running into barriers with a program that seems more determined to punish them instead of help them,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.
TORONTO- Unifor wrote to Ontario’s Labour Minister following a disappointing report from the government’s Ontario Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee (OWRAC).
To mark the 32nd anniversary of the Montreal Massacre and the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on December 6, Unifor – through its Social Justice Fund – donated $2,000 to 79 shelters across Canada, totalling $158,000.
“Local shelters provide life-saving assistance as frontline providers of crisis services to women and children who are living with domestic violence,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.
Every year, Unifor observes Human Rights Day on December 10, the day the United Nations General assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
Unifor is a union for everyone, and in doing so, we are asking all members to “Work together for change.”
Unifor members from the media sector have been meeting online with Members of Parliament, including Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, pushing the need for big tech firms to pay their fair share to support local news.
“Journalism is vital to the functioning of our democracy, and yet the entire sector is in crisis as big tech firms claim 90% of digital ad dollars,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias, who led the delegation meeting with Rodriguez.
“There has been a lot of talk, but now is the time for action.”
After more than a month on the picket line, striking shelter workers bring their struggle to the wider Napanee and Kingston community with a new radio ad.
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