Last month, Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers published an update on their website regarding contract negotiations for factory workers in Central Alberta.
These workers are employed at Rahr Malting as malt lab technicians, and various operators and trades workers, such as machinists, welders, electricians, labourers, plant operators, and load out operators.
Rahr Malting is based out of Alix, a village just east of Red Deer. The workers there convert barley into malt, which is then sold to breweries, distilleries, and allied industries around the world. The facility in Alix has a capacity of 140,000 megatonnes.
According to Local 401’s update, the workers and the employer have assigned bargaining teams to start negotiations on a new contract. The previous contract expired in May 2023.
The two bargaining teams held their first talks between the 7th and 9th of November, where they exchange non-monetary items. It’s common practice to start with non-monetary items (such as overtime, holidays, language, etc) and move on to the more contentious monetary items later.
The union did indicate, however, in their initial proposal that they’ll be asking for “substantial wage increases to all rates of pay, premiums, and shift differentials.”
Here are a few of the highlights.
Under the previous contract, Local 401 represented only the Rahr Malting workers who were classified as Operator I, Operator II, or Laboratory Technician. They’re proposing to remove the restriction so they can provide representation for all workers, other than those working in office, customer relations, sales, security, supervisory, administrative, managerial, and executive positions.
The union also proposed adding a new section to the union on freedom of expression and the right to strike.
The employer recognizes the union’s right to freedom of expression and the right to strike. The employer recognizes the union’s right to picket while on strike or being locked out and further recognizes their right to do so at both primary and secondary locations.
Workers automatically became member of Local 401 after they had worked at Rahr Malting for 3 consecutive calendar months. The employer wants to increase that to 6 months. They also want to rename the probationary period to an “evaluation period” and increase it from 6 months to 9 months, during which time they can terminate the worker’s employment without having to worry about the grievance and arbitration procedure.
The union, on the other hand is fine with the current terms, but has proposed having a shop steward or union rep present when the employer terminates the employment. They also want the reason for termination in writing.
On a related note, the union has also proposed having a shop steward or other union rep present at any meeting with a worker that could lead to discipline. They also want any reprimand, suspension, or termination in writing from now on.
Workers are entitled to a $300 annual clothing allowance, which they can use to pay for safety footwear and work clothing. The union has proposed increasing it to $350.
As well, the worker’s bargaining team wants to increase overtime pay to double time from its current time and a half. This would also apply to workers whose shift is changed with less than 36 hours notice, for any shift they’re called in to work prior or following, but not continuous to, their shift, and for any meetings outside of their shift.
The union has also proposed a new change to work hours, where workers who have less than 8 hours between the end of the call-in period and the start of their next shift, the length of their next shift will be reduced to make sure they get 8 hours of rest.
Another proposal made by the workers’ bargaining team is increasing the number of legal holidays from 12 to 13 by including the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. As well, they want to increase holiday pay to double time from time and a half.
Related to holidays, the union wants workers to have the ability to transfer their paid holidays that are Christian based, such as Good Friday and Christmas, to holy days of their own religion.
The most recent contract outlines that any combination of maternity or parental leave can’t exceed 50 weeks. The workers’ bargaining team wants to increase that to 78 weeks.
Currently, new employee orientations include a 15-minute presentation from the shop steward of another union rep. The union is proposing to double this to 30 minutes.
The union wants to add a new section to the contract that encourages a workplace free of discrimination based on “age, race, colour, creed, national origin, political or religious belief, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, physical or mental disability”.
Although they didn’t provide any specifics at this point in the bargaining process, the union plans to ask for better benefits and pension, including “increased coverage levels, additional service coverage, increased paid sick days, removal of employee contributions, introduction of a health care spending accounting and the removal of any age restrictions on benefit coverage”.
The tentative timeframe for the new contract is currently from 1 June 2023 to 31 May 2026, and collective bargaining for the subsequent contract can be initiated between 60 and 120 days prior to the expiration date.
Or rather, these are the dates that the employer have proposed, and the union provided no dates in their proposal.
The next bargaining dates won’t be until the new year, running from the 17th to the 19th of January. The workers will have a chance to rank the monetary proposals before bargaining resumes.
