(Montreal) Another illustration of the difficulties in recruiting trades employees: while the collective agreement had not even expired and negotiations had not yet begun, the salary of trades employees was increased by 3, $73 per hour at the WestRock cardboard mill in La Tuque.
Posted at 11:44 a.m.
The factory manufactures cardboard for packaging and the food sector. The Unifor union, affiliated with the FTQ, represents 250 workers there.
Competition is so fierce to find and retain tradespeople that the Unifor union local and the company have agreed to reopen the collective agreement even before its expiry, scheduled for the end of August, and to improve working conditions work… even before negotiations begin to renew the collective agreement.
Thus, it is the class A trade employees who see their wages increase by $3.73 per hour. Those in class B see their wages increase by $2.61 an hour.
Also, two technician classifications have been added, level 2 at $48.50 per hour and level 3 at $52 per hour.
Negotiations to renew the collective agreement will begin in March.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Renaud Gagné, Quebec director of Unifor, explains that this situation is not unique: he has seen several cases since the summer of 2020, because of the strong competition to recruit and retain this type of workers.