City and CUPE Workers reach agreement on four year labour deal

The Holidays will be stress free ones for members of the City of Prince Rupert's unionized work force, with the City and its CUPE workers reaching terms on a new 4 year contract.

Mayor Lee Brain provided the early indication of the good news on the Labour front on Monday evening when he released some details from a closed Council session.

The Mayor provided the heads up of the pending announcement of the contract to come, noting that more details would be released on Tuesday with an information release.

That notice was posted to the City's website this morning and from it the labour notes look as follows:

It is a four year collective agreement that will see a 2 percent wage increase for Union staff each year over the next four years. The 2 percent rate reflecting the rate of inflation and associated increases to the cost of living. The contract will go into effect as of January 1st, 2018

The settlement also addressed some language clarification related to the new agreement.

Mayor Lee Brain noted the hard work that was put in both by City management and the union negotiators to reach the agreement.

“Management has worked hard with the Union to reach an Agreement that both parties can be happy with,” ... “This new Collective Agreement gives both parties greater financial certainty for the next four years.”

The labour agreement was approved by Prince Rupert City Council in a closed meeting on December 4th, the Union membership approved the Agreement at a meeting also held on December 4th.

Rick Gilker the President of CUPE 105 offered up a few thoughts on the nature of the successful negotiation session.

“I am happy we have a collectively bargained Agreement, which comes into effect January 1st, 2018,” ...“There’s a little bit for everyone in this Agreement.”

The City's agreement is one of a number of agreements currently being negotiated by municipal government across the province, you can review the outcomes from some of those negotiations from our item of November 24th

For more items related to the Monday City Council session see our Council archive page.

Further notes on City Council Discussions can be reviewed here.

Further background on Labour notes with the City of Prince Rupert can be reviewed here.