Edmonton warehouse workers get 29% raise

Earlier this month, Local 987 of the Teamsters published on their Facebook page that their members employed at Sysco’s Edmonton facility ratified their newest collective agreement.

The previous agreement for these 150 or so warehouse workers expired this past March, so they had been without a new contract for about 6 months.

The workers at Sysco’s Edmonton location, which is technically in Acheson, just west of the city, are responsible for distributing various food products—including produce, dairy, meats, frozen goods, cleaning supplies, disposable products, and smallwares—throughout northern Alberta, as well as northwestern Saskatchewan, and the three territories.

They include those employed in the shipping, receiving, quality assurance, loading, custodial, repacking, yard, freezer, and custodial departments.

I don’t have access to the new collective agreement, but Local 987 is claiming that the workers will receive a 29% wage increase, a third of which will come immediately and will be retroactive to the expiry of the last contract.

This raise will result in an average top rate of $44 an hour for full-time workers by the time this new contract expires. The average was just under $33 an hour at the end of the last contract.

The workers are also set to receive increases to vacation entitlement, vacation pay, paid sick days, paid personal days, employer-paid contributions to their pension, and numerous premiums, including meal and boot allowances.

Also, the new contract recognizes National Day of Truth and Reconciliation as a statutory holiday.