In the bargaining update published last month, Alberta Jobs, Economy, and Northern Development indicated that Local 530A of Unifor had recently settled negotiations on a new contract with Sherritt International.
The 3-year contract was settled on 23 March 2023 and will cover over 350 workers. The previous contract expired in March 2022, so this retroactive contract will expire in March 2025.
Sherring International is a mining company based out of Toronto. They own a nickel and cobalt processing facility in Fort Saskatchewan.
Ultimately, the Unifor and Sherritt bargaining teams reached an impasse in negotiations and had to go to mediation.
Eventually, the two parties had agreed on a new contract which includes a 13% increase over the life of the contract, broken down by year below:
| 1st year | 6.0% |
| 2nd year | 3.5% |
| 3rd year | 3.5% |
The previous contract, which was only 2 years long, saw 2% increases in each year of the contract.
