Drummondville, Que. – August 29, 2015 – UFCW Canada Local 1991P members working at the Pavillon Marie-Reine-des-Coeurs seniors home in Drummondville, Quebec recently ratified their first collective agreement. The new three-year contract is retroactive to July 2015 and will expire in June 2018.

The Pavillon Marie-Reine-des-Coeurs members work as cooks, kitchen staff, housekeepers, and food safety and maintenance workers.

As part of the new contract, the seniors home workers will see many improvements to their working conditions, such as the addition of two floating holidays and one more sick day. The members will also receive new personal leave days for family births, adoptions, and deaths.

In addition, the Pavillon Marie-Reine-des-Coeurs members will enjoy the following gains:

• A fourth vacation week after 10 years of seniority;

• The right to have at least two statutory holidays off;
   
• An additional 15 minute break;

• An improved schedule, under which hours will now be fairly distributed over an eight-hour period;

• A 1.75 percent wage increase, retroactive to January 1, 2015, with a $0.10 adjustment for housekeepers; and

• Wage increases of 2.5 percent on January 1, 2016, 1.5 percent on January 1, 2017, 1.5 percent on July 1, 2017, and 2.1 percent on January 1, 2018.

"I would like to congratulate the Pavillon Marie-Reine-des-Coeurs members on achieving their first union contract, and also thank the bargaining committee for their excellent work during negotiations," says UFCW Canada Local 1991P President Mario Maisonneuve. "We are very proud of this agreement, and we want the members to know that we will continue to provide them with effective representation going forward," Brother Maisonneuve adds.