The 800 employees of the SAQ warehouses 86.3% accepted a new agreement in principle to renew their collective agreement.
The agreement was reached after the employees went on strike for several days, and consumers were confronted with almost empty shelves in the various branches of the SAQ.
” We are very happy ! We have restored the letters of nobility to our jobs within this crown corporation. The working conditions in general are improved. Hiring wages have been improved as well as compensation across all salary scales, ”said Joël Latour, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 3535, in a press release.
The employees signed a six-year contract, which provides for salary increases of approximately 3% per year. Union members have also agreed to a new arrangement of their work schedule, so that the warehouses are open on Saturdays and Sundays.
“We will be able to better supply the SAQ branches across the province and, moreover, that will also allow us to develop a new home bottle delivery project. This is a medium-term project that should see the light of day in 2022 and 2023, ”said Michel Gratton, CUPE union advisor, in the same press release.