Quebec City – January 5, 2015 – UFCW Canada Local 503 members working at the Nadeau Ferme Avicole poultry processing plant in Saint-François-de-Madawaska, New Brunswick have achieved a new collective agreement. The new collective agreement runs until 2022. The more than 225 members at Nadeau Ferme Avicole are employed as maintenance and garage workers, truckers, production workers and machine operators, and have been a part of the UFCW 503 family since 2010.

Some of the improvements in the new agreement include:

• Wage increases of 14% over the term of the contact
• Meal allowances increased from $7 to $8.50 for factory workers; from $10.75 to $12 for truckers;
• Safety boot allowance increased to $150
• Premium for transporting live chickens to reach $1 over the course of the agreement
• Night premium to reach 60 cents over the course of the agreement
• One additional sick day
• Premium for checking machinery will increase to $23 over the course of the agreement –  be paid in addition to time worked at the prevailing rate
• Travel to be reimbursed at 35 cents a kilometer; rising to 45 cents over the course of the agreement
• An added Christmas bonus to be paid in the form of a gift card
• Overtime hours to be included in wages for the purpose of calculating the employer’s contribution to the pension fund
• A joint committee on group insurance to be formed 

“Congratulation to our New Brunswick members on their new collective agreement,” said Louise Lefebvre, president of UFCW Canada Local 503. “By working together, you have achieved many gains which will improve your working conditions in the coming years. Special thanks to the negotiating committee for its excellent work.”