(Montreal) The bus drivers of the Société de transport de Laval voted 56.1% in favor of the agreement in principle concluded by their union on April 29 with their employer.
Posted yesterday at 10:35 p.m.
The agreement provides for a new eight-year employment contract, from August 2019 to July 2027. The union is also pleased to have succeeded in including in the agreement a clause on job protection in the case of the use or acquisition of autonomous buses.
Under the agreement, the drivers will be entitled to salary increases of 2%, 2%, 2.5% and 4.5% for the first four years of the agreement – an amount will be paid to them retroactively. For the next four years, their salary increase will vary according to the All-items Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The two parties will now agree on the official texts concerning the contract.
The negotiation process for the renewal of the collective agreement was eventful. The drivers held strike days last November, while providing essential services.
The Administrative Labor Tribunal also ordered the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents the 625 drivers, to take all measures to ensure that its members cease their concerted refusal to work overtime and that they fill assignments on school bus routes.
Another strike was scheduled for May, but it was called off when the tentative agreement was reached.