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Atlantic Packaging workers accept new contract

Unifor members at Atlantic Packaging have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new collective agreement that will see increases in wages and benefits, the union states. The new agreement will see wage increases of 2% in each year of the contract…

Unifor members at Atlantic Packaging have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new collective agreement that will see increases in wages and benefits, the union states. The new agreement will see wage increases of 2% in each year of the contract that are retroactive to October 15, 2014, when the last agreement expired.

In addition to a $1,000 signing bonus, workers will receive improvements to their dental, vision and long-term disability programs as well as other monetary items such as allotments for boots, shift premiums and severance payouts, says Unifor.

“The pattern Unifor is setting in the forest products industry delivers strong economic gains and important advancements for workers across the country,” said Jerry Dias, national president of Unifor.

The approximately 65 workers at Atlantic Packaging are the latest to achieve these increases that Unifor established last year when it reached an agreement with Resolute Forest Products.

“Members at Local 1894 were extremely pleased with this agreement especially in light of the uncertainty in the industry and lost ground for the workers in recent years,” said Mike Kachurowski, national representative at Unifor. 

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing more than 305,000 workers.