Manufacturing

With the ratification of their very first collective agreement, workers at Cabot Manufacturing in Point Tupper, Nova Scotia are looking forward to a more reasonable pay structure and greater health and safety measures.

“The group at Cabot Manufacturing is a great example of the recent resurgence in workers unionizing to better protect and enforce their rights at work,” said Jennifer Murray, Unifor Atlantic Regional Director. “I send my congratulations to the bargaining committee for the strong work in achieving this solid first agreement.”

MABE retirees, or MABE scorned as they like to be called, gathered in front of the former MABE plant in Montreal on August 25 to mark the sad anniversary of their former employer's bankruptcy. Locals from the greater Montreal area also joined to show them that they are not alone in their fight and that their Unifor family is behind them.

Retirees and active employees lost the equivalent of 22% of their pension as well as the protection of group insurance and life insurance due to the bankruptcy in August 2014.

LETHBRIDGE—Wage increases and a signing bonus are highlights of a new collective agreement ratified August 2, 2022 by Unifor members working at Arconic.

“This was a difficult round of bargaining and the committee should be proud of what they accomplished in this collective agreement,” said Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor Western Regional Director. 

Kleenzone workers who provide cleaning services at the Sanofi Pasteur Plant in Toronto remain on the picket line on day four of strike action.

The approximately 60 Unifor Local 1701 members began the strike on June 14, 2022 after voting to reject a second tentative agreement offer.

“This will only be settled at the bargaining table and we’re willing to return to negotiations so we can resolve this and get our members back to work.” said Mike Hill, Unifor Local 1701 President.

Unifor Local 1917 Hitachi unit members in Guelph, Ont. voted 95% in favour of ratifying a three-year collective agreement that guarantees current members historic ‘no layoffs’ language for the duration of the contract.

“Congratulations to the bargaining committee for securing a great deal for Unifor members at Hitachi,” said Shane Wark, Assistant to Unifor’s National President. “With rising inflation costs, going to work without fear of layoffs hanging over workers is a huge relief.”

The deal was ratified on Sat., May 14, 2022, at an in-person meeting.

More than 300 members of Unifor and QFL-affiliated unions answered the call by locked-out Unifor Local 177 members at the Ash Grove CRH cement plant to join them in a march at the Port of Trois-Rivières, Quebec on April 1.

Members of Unifor Local 1044 at Prelco in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec went on strike October 24. They have been without a collective agreement since last February.

The 225 members rejected a tentative agreement reached the previous week and voted in favour of the strike at a general meeting on October 24. The main stumbling block in the negotiations is wage increases.

The picket line is being set up in front of the plant at 94 Cartier Boulevard in Rivière-du-Loup.