CAW members and St Mary’s approve new agreement, USA

CAW members and St Mary’s approve new agreement, USA
30 July 2010


CAW members at St. Marys Cement in Bowmanville, Ontario have ratified a new three-year agreement by 58 per cent, ending a bitter five month strike.

"This is a significant achievement for this group of workers to fight off the massive concessions demanded by this employer," said CAW Local 222 President Chris Buckley. "St Marys Cement, now a Votorantim-based company, was looking to eliminate the pension plan, slash wages, drastically reduce benefits and extend the current contract to five years, which would have set these workers back decades."

The new agreement includes a signing bonus in the first year, a lump sum payment in the second and a wage increase in the third, as well as improvements to training provisions. The CAW bargaining committee was also able to resist the outsourcing of major operations in the plant for the life of the agreement.

The agreement maintains the current defined benefit pension plan until September 2012 at which time it will change to a defined contribution plan.
Published under Cement News