Last week, Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers posted an update on their website regarding bargaining for workers employed in Edmonton by Gate Gourmet.
Based out of Switzerland, Gate Gourmet has locations in Calgary and Edmonton, where workers prepare food for the aviation industry.
The roughly 50 workers employed by Gate Gourmet in Edmonton include cooks, dishwashers, stockroom clerks, assemblers, commissary, high lift drivers, and maintenance employees.
These workers have been working without a new contract since their most recent one expired last July.
According to the Local 401 update, most workers can expect 3% wage increases, if ratified, during each year of the 3-year contract, with the first raise being retroactive to last summer. General kitchen help, however, are set to receive a 4% raise in the first year, followed by 3.5% in each of the final two years.
| General kitchen help | Everyone else | |
|---|---|---|
| 27 July 2023 | 4.0% | 3.0% |
| 27 July 2024 | 3.5% | 3.0% |
| 27 July 2025 | 3.5% | 3.0% |
This is better than they received in the last contract, which saw a 2% raise in the first year and 1% in each of the following two years.
In July 2019, the consumer price index in Alberta was 143.6. Four years later, it had increased to 166.0, a jump of 22.4, or 15.6%.
Even though these workers saw a combined wage increase of 4% over the course of their last contract, they actually saw a loss of real wages, which is wages adjusted for inflation. Because inflation was 15.6%, their 4% raise resulted in a reduction of 11.6% in real wages.
This means that the workers are entering into their new contract with a wage deficit of 11.6%, and the 11% combined raise proposed for the general kitchen help won’t be enough to make up that deficit, let alone the 9% combined raise proposed for everyone else.
And remember, that’s just inflation up until the start of the contract. That’s not counting the inflation over the next 3 years of the new contract, and all indicators are pointing to an increase in the consumer price index in the near future.
Some other changes proposed in the tentative agreement is the doubling of the parental leave from one day to two days.
The annual clothing allowance for workers who have to work in cold environments is proposed to increase from $100 a year to $125 for full-time and from $60 to $80 for part-time.
Employer contributions to worker RRSPs will increase from 30¢ per hour to 35¢ per hour
Drivers will be provided with 5 shirts a year; however, they will be responsible for maintenance and laundering of them.
The prescription eyeglass benefit would increase from $200 every 2 years to $250 every 2 years.
The union held an in-person ratification vote yesterday; however, online voting begins at noon today.
