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Unifor members at Local 4503 in Truro, N.S. have negotiated a new collective agreement that delivers wage increases, benefit gains, and new full-time jobs with dairy producer and cheesemaker Agropur.
“Congratulations to the bargaining committee for their dedicated efforts to get this group an agreement that will help create good jobs and improve benefits and wages,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
The roughly 230 members of this unit work as production line operators, in maintenance, warehousing and trucking.
The biggest wins of this contract include a 14.6% wage increase over five years, with 5% in the first year, increases to sick days and medical co-pay, a negotiated 22 full-time positions into the bargaining unit and time off during the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
“Members of Local 4503 brought creative and innovative proposals to the table and, through strategic bargaining, succeeded in making their workplace more democratic and fairer for all workers at Agropur Truro,” said Unifor Atlantic Regional Director Jennifer Murray.
The bargaining committee rose to the challenge of negotiating good wage gains while fixing many issues for growth in the local, and addressing full-time job creation.
The collective agreement is effective retroactively from Dec. 23, 2024, and will expire Dec. 22, 2029.
“Our last contract ran through COVID, so it was imperative to obtain good wage increases while making changes to language to better our members,” said Unifor Local 4503 President Cecil Vallis.
“With the changes to vacation scheduling, the union and the company will now jointly review all vacation requests to maximize the number of approved requests. This will greatly benefit work-life balance for our members.”
Recently, Unifor welcomed 40 new members at the Agropur Cooperative in Sussex, N.B.