Members of the Grain Services Union Locals 1 and 2 working for Viterra have voted to accept their employer’s final offer.
Steve Torgerson, bargaining spokesperson and GSU General Secretary, says the ballots were counted Friday morning, and two thirds of each local voted in favour of accepting the deal. Although the January 4th offer was approved, he says the results don’t show overwhelming support.
“We’ve made some gains…but I don’t think it goes quite far enough. As with all collective bargaining, it’s a process, and you don’t make big leaps and bounds time over time. It takes effort and years to get it done. We’re in this for the long haul,” he stated.
The bargaining process will now move into the next phase, where GSU and Viterra will cooperate to incorporate all of the agreed-upon changes into the new collective agreement.
“This time around, our first year is a guaranteed 4.5% wage increase for all eligible employees for last year, 2023. That’s significant, that’s something we haven’t seen in our collective agreement for over 15 years. As well, some guaranteed increases for employees who rate solid in their annual performance reviews,” Torgerson noted.
He adds that he is very proud of the members of Locals 1 and 2.
“It’s been difficult, but if you do democracy right, it is a tough thing to achieve. I’m proud of the members for sticking with those ideals and sticking together as a group to go and get what they need.”
Negotiations for a new deal between the GSU and Viterra Canada Inc had been ongoing for over a year, but experienced stalls over wages, a better work-life balance, and respect in the workplace.
“It’s unreasonable for employees to be at the beck and call of their employer. We’ve got folks, they’ve got birthday parties and family events, or they are just looking for a day off on Saturday, but they’re told Saturday morning at 5:00am, ‘I need you hear at 10:00am to load cars for twelve to fourteen hours,’ and that’s just grossly unacceptable,” he added.
Earlier this month, the GSU issued 72-hour strike notice to Viterra and the company made this offer, in the 11th hour to avoid a strike.
