Members at First Choice Beverage ratify first contract

Congratulations to employees at First Choice Beverages on achieving their first collective agreement as UFCW Locals 175 & 633 members.

To achieve this agreement, the members and Union Negotiating Committee faced a very challenging round of bargaining and the parties spent three days in conciliation. The ratified four-year deal includes wage increases and other improvements for the 60 employees at the plant.

Language in this first agreement provides protection for the workers, including protection against favouritism and establishing policies for seniority, and lays the ground work for future negotiations in a number of ways.

All bargaining unit employees at First Choice Beverages will receive a signing bonus of $200. Wage rates will go up by:

• 1.5% in year one,
• 1.5% in year two,
• 1.75% in year three, and;
• another 1.75% in year four.

Full-time employees with six months’ service will receive an additional paid day off each year. Other monetary improvements include an increase to the shoe allowance, and statutory holiday pay will now count as hours worked for overtime calculations.

The Union Negotiating Committee locked in the existing health and welfare plan to ensure its benefits continue for the duration of the contract term.

The First Choice Beverages plant is in Mississauga; employees voted to join the Union in early 2019. Read about their organizing victory here!

Union Negotiating Committee: Ali Ayoub, Jun Zhao, and Union Reps Lionel MacEachern and Mike Mattioli.

Catch up on all the negotiation highlights from across the province here.

Plus, learn about the discounts and services available to you as a valued Member of the Union.

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