Montreal – November 7, 2016 – UFCW Local 500 members at Enveloppe Laurentide have unanimously ratified a first collective agreement at the specialty envelope company located in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent. The contract provides members a $350 signing bonus, as well as a lump sum payment of 2% of the company’s profits from years 2017 and 2018, divided among the bargaining unit members.

Both parties also agreed to maintain the terms of the group insurance plan, with the employer paying 75% of the premium.  Members will also be able to transfer up to 48 hours of overtime into a time bank, which they can convert to a payment if they do not use all of the banked time by the end of the year. In addition, staff members will be entitled up to 40 hours sick leave annually, with a payment for all of the entitled hours not used.

A new wage scale has also been established, so that members who were at the lowest level on the wage ladder will now receive a salary increase of one dollar ($1) per hour worked on average.

The members include includes production workers, machine operators, and shippers.

‘‘We are very proud of having established a solid base with this first collective agreement,” says UFCW Canada Local 500 President Antonio Filato.  Bargaining concluded with a good first collective, that is only the beginning of a work in progress to improve the new members working conditions and wages.”