MONTREAL — The new collective agreement between Unifor and Resolute Forest Products "meets the expectations" of union members, says Unifor spokesperson Renaud Gagné.
Nearly 90 per cent of the membership at Resolute operations in eastern Canada including Thunder Bay ratified the tentative agreement last week.
It includes salary adjustments of $2.50 an hour for members in the production sector, and $3.50 an hour for members in trades.
It also provides for salary increases of three per cent in the first year, $1.30 an hour in the second year, three per cent in the third year, and a further $1.30 an hour in the last year of the four-year deal.
According to Unifor, these amounts represent a total average increase of between 20 per cent and 24 per cent.
Unifor says other improvements include enhancements to group benefits and a third week of vacation after two years of service.
The union chose Resolute as the model for new collective agreements for nearly 15,000 members working for various companies in the forest industry in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.
Gagné says the new contract will help attract and maintain the workforce that the industry will need in years to come.
