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CALGARY, Oct. 31, 2016 /CNW/ - Members of the former Pepsico Employees' Association overwhelmingly ratified their first agreement as Unifor Local 1410 members. The three-year deal includes wage gains, improved rights around scheduling and paid education leave.
"We're happy to welcome this group into the Unifor family," said Joie Warnock, Unifor Western Director. "The bargaining committee demonstrated strong leadership and dedication throughout these negotiations and secured a strong deal despite uncertain economic times in Alberta."
Sunday's vote saw the agreement approved by 90 per cent of the membership. This is the first set of negotiations since the former Pepsico Beverages Employees' Association merged with Unifor in April of 2015.
"The association was proud of the work they had done in previous years, but increasingly felt that they needed more support when sitting across the table from such a large and powerful company," said Todd Romanow, Unifor National Representative. "Bargaining with large multinationals is never easy, but the power and solidarity of a 310,000-member union can really make a difference."
Unifor represents the 163 members at the Calgary facility and nearly 10,000 other members in the Food and Beverage sector across Canada.
"Being part of the largest private-sector union in the country not only gave our committee a confidence boost, but we also had access to expertise and resources that we simply didn't have before," said Val Walker, President of Unifor Local 1410. "We now have an agreement with much stronger language regarding health and safety, job security and seniority rights that we're all proud of."
Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing more than 310,000 workers. It was formed Labour Day weekend 2013 when the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions merged.
SOURCE Unifor
