A now-ratified labour contract at Maple Leaf Foods’ main pork slaughter and processing plant at Brandon, Man. will lay out the company’s obligations to its imported workers, according to their union.
The company’s new five-year deal with over 2,200 Brandon workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 832 offers improvements to pensions, wages, shift premiums and vacation scheduling, the union said in a release Tuesday.
But Maple Leaf staff working in Brandon under the Foreign Worker Nominee Program now also have contract language that clarifies the company is responsible for processing all the workers’ necessary paperwork, and for providing translators whenever required by foreign workers, the union said.
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The new deal also requires Toronto-based Maple Leaf to pay for the translation of the labour contract and the employee handbook if there are more than 100 members at Brandon whose first language is not English.
The deal also introduces an “expedited arbitration process” for members under the Foreign Worker Program whose employment is terminated.
Terminated employees represented by the union will be allowed to stay in Maniotba until the arbitrator’s award is received, the union said Tuesday.
“This contract was unique to bargain because of the diversity at the plant. Our committee was successful in making strong improvements for everyone who works there,” Local 832 president Robert Ziegler said in the union’s release.
Workers voted Monday to ratify the new contract following an information session held Sunday in English, Spanish, Ukrainian and Mandarin.
The deal also reclassifies a number of jobs at the plant that will see over 200 members move into higher-paying classifications, with increases ranging from 75 cents an hour to over $3 per hour, the union said, estimating a total $450,000 per year in additional wages for affected members.
All members will see wage increases of $1.30 to $2.10 over the life of the agreement along with increases to shift premiums, UFCW said.
