Earlier this month, Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers posted an update on their website regarding contract negotiations for distillery workers.
These 75 or so workers are employed by Alberta Distillers Ltd., which is based in Calgary. They include warehouse, production, maintenance, packaging, and tankhouse workers.
Their most recent collective agreement expired last June, about 8 months ago; although bargaining did not start until this year. Since negotiations began, the workers’ bargaining committee met with the employer 18 times to try to hammer out a new agreement.
On the 4th, ADL presented to the workers’ bargaining committee what they called their final offer.
The proposed agreement would be over 3.5 years, so it can align with the calendar year, rather than from July to June. Over that 3.5-year period, workers could expect 3 wage increases:
| 1st year | 3.50% |
| 2nd year | 2.50% |
| 3rd year | 3.00% |
That works out to a combined 9% over those 3.5 years, or just under 3% per year on average. This is a bit better than the 2.75% annual average they received in their previous collective agreement.
As well, maintenance workers will receive an additional 2% increase.
By the end of the contract, assuming it is ratified, only 1 position—general help—will be making under $40 an hour, and their base hourly wage would be $39.48, so they would be almost there.
Currently, quality control, machine operators, and warehousemen also make under $40 an hour.
Maintenance workers who are classified trade workers will make over $50 an hour by the end of 2028, whereas now they make under $50 an hour.
It was not just wages that the employer offered to increase. For example, they have also proposed raising several health benefits.
| Previous | Proposed | |
|---|---|---|
| Life insurance | $55,000 | $75,000 |
| Major dental | $2,000 | $3,000 |
| Orthodontic (lifetime) | $1,500 | $3,000 |
| Health spending account | $250 | $500 |
They offered to increase the meal allowance from $17.50 to $25.00.
As well, ADL wants to increase the boot allowance from $250 per calendar year to $275. Warehouse workers would see theirs increase from $350 to $375.
Shift premiums would also increase under the proposed agreement.
| Old | Proposed | |
|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | $0.95 | $1.10 |
| Night | $1.10 | $1.45 |
Under the previous collective agreement, anyone who was on standby duty and was called in to work would be paid 1.5 times their regular pay rate. The proposed agreement proposes increaing that to double time and including a minimum of 4 hours of pay, regardless of how many hours they actually work.
Personal and family responsibility leave would increase from 4 paid days and 1 unpaid day to 5 paid days.
The tentative agreement would increase the defined benefit levels for the company’s hourly pension plan from $91 to $92 in the first year, followed by another dollar next January. It will rise o $94 in January 2028.
ADL has proposed a new training premium of $1.50 an hour for workers who train new workers.
Currently, workers who do not need to work on statutory holidays would receive 8 hours of pay at their regular pay rate. This has been changed in the tentative agreement to equivalent hours of their regular shift (some workers work 10- or 12-hour shifts) at their regular pay rate.
The proposed agreement, if it is ratified, will expired at the end of 2028.
Voting on the tentative agreement begins this afternoon at the ADL plant site, in the TRACC trailer. Online voting will occur tomorrow.
