HUMBOLDT 鈥� Council has voted to ratify a new collective bargaining agreement with its unionized workers that includes wage increases in 2021 and 2022.
The three-year agreement between the city and Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 2359 will see no wage increase in 2020, a 1.5 per cent increase in 2021 and a 1.5 per cent increase in 2022. The previous agreement expired at the end of 2019 and negotiation was delayed due to the pandemic.
鈥淸I鈥檓] very pleased with the turnout of this negotiation,鈥� said Michael Behiel, Humboldt鈥檚 mayor, at the June 16 special council meeting, adding he thought the wage increases were keeping in line with what is a respectable amount in today鈥檚 economy.
In a report to council, city management said approximately $2.24 million is paid to the city鈥檚 unionized employees each year.
The new agreement also increases the limit on banked sick time by 20 per cent, removes the ability to draw sick time into a deficit, and allows the expanded use of the worker safety gear allowance to include prescription safety glasses.
As well, the wage grid has been reformatted. The report said the previous grid 鈥渓ocked-in鈥� employees a specific wage rate for a few years at a time, which results in taking around 13 years to reach the top rate of pay for any position. The new grid enables employees to move up two steps in their first two years in a position.
鈥淭he cumulative cost over the three years of the agreement is only slightly more than the mandate that council set prior to the beginning of the negotiations,鈥� the report to council said. 鈥淭he management negotiating team is pleased however that such significant improvements to the wage grid were accomplished, and recommend that council ratify the agreement.鈥�
Council then voted for a wage increase of zero per cent in 2020, 1.5 per cent in 2021 and 1.5 per cent in 2022 for its non-unionized employees. Around $1.22 million is paid annually to聽 non-unionized employees. The non-unionized wage grid was also changed from having seven steps to having five steps, reflecting the changes to the unionized wage grid.
