MONTREAL – A new collective agreement was approved by 59% of the 79% of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers’ Union of Canada (CEP) technicians who voted on the recently completed deal.
"We are pleased to have this new contract in place," said Patrick Pichette, president, operations, for Bell Canada, in the press release. "It provides our technicians with the stability of a long-term contract and annual wage increases, while preserving benefits, pensions and job security, as well as providing Bell with more flexibility to meet changing customer needs. Working together, we will continue to build a stronger Bell by being even more available for customers."
The collective agreement covers approximately 5,000 technicians who mainly serve business customers in major urban centres of Ontario and Québec. A similar deal was recently rejected by the members, by the same margin.
"Bargaining was very difficult, the two first offers of the company having been rejected," says CEP Ontario administrative vice-president John Edwards. "It must be said that the employer demanded many concessions from the start but we managed to eliminate several of the major irritants."
Highlights of the new agreement include:
* A five-year collective agreement ensuring job security, especially because of the impending privatization of the corporation
* Wage increases;
* Protection of gains with respect to fringe benefits of active employees;
* Reclassification of 50% of part-time status employees to permanent status, which will consolidate their jobs;
* Improvements in the holidays that may be taken in summer.
