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Unifor Local 555/BDCEIU members at Black Diamond Cheese in Belleville, Ontario, have ratified a new collective agreement.
“Our members are proud to be a part of this Belleville institution that has produced well-known name brand products for nearly a century,” said Lee Lessard, Unifor Local 555/BDCEIU President. “We set out to get a collective agreement that protects everything we have built and moves our members forward in key areas, and that’s what we’ve done.”
The five-year agreement delivers many economic benefits to workers at the plant, including increases to shift premiums, pension contributions and wages of nearly 15% compounded over the life of the agreement.
Black Diamond workers also gained improvements to vision, dental, and weekly indemnity benefits and added new coverage for massage and acupuncture. Enhancements were made to job security for distribution centre workers, as well as improved severance in the event of closure. Language was strengthened for the agreement’s job posting and vacation scheduling sections as well.
“The contract moves us forward on our key priorities: wages, pension, benefits and job security. In addition, we were able to rewrite our existing apprenticeship program and bring it to a much higher standard with more union involvement. These were a top priority for our bargaining team and we are satisfied with the outcome,” added Lessard.
Unifor represents approximately 545 workers at the plant, owned by Groupe Lactalis, in a variety of production jobs and skilled trades, such as cutters, slicers, grinders, and shredders, distribution and warehousing workers, as well as mechanical and electrical technologists.
