UFCW Locals 175 & 633 provincial agreement with Metro Ontario Inc. ratifies

The 52 stores representing almost 8000 workers covered by the Metro Ontario Inc agreement, ratified a new four-year deal. After twenty days of negotiations the committee comprised of 11 members including Full and Part Time, unanimously recommended the settlement to the membership that was successfully ratified at 24 in-person meetings across the province on March 9th 2022.

Significant wage improvements were achieved throughout the contract which are all retroactive to November 21, 2021.

There is a new revised meat cutter pay scale which will increase the current top rate by $3.20 to $23.00 in 2021 with additional wage increases in each year of the contract thereafter. The contract now includes part-time meat cutters which did not exist before and in fact these workers were previously prohibited. Part-time meat cutters will be paid the same rate as full-time meat cutters.

As a result of this change for meat cutters, Assistant Meat Department Heads will also see a wage adjustment of $2.75 per hour above the top rate with additional wage increases in each year of the contract thereafter.

Newly negotiated full-time Union positions of Assistant Head Cashier and Assistant Deli Department will create many new full-time jobs.

Improvement in the Vision Care allowance will see an increase from $225.00 to $300.00 for full and part-time and Short-Term Disability has been increased from 66 2/3% at $520.00 per week to $638.00 per week. Benefits have also been negotiated for active full and part-time employees who work beyond age 65, ensuring benefits for approximately 650 members. The safety boot allowance will increase from $100 to $125 for both full and part-time members.

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation has been added to the list of holidays for all employees.

Other improvements include the addition of a new PEL (Personal Emergency Leave) day for full-time employees. Part-time employees have achieved a new Sick Leave Plan that provides up to 24 hours of sick time for eligible part-time workers, which is generally unheard of in grocery retail.

There is new language governing online grocery orders which Metro refers to as the E-Commerce business, that provides structure and defined full and part-time jobs.

Vacation language improvements will allow for more employees to be off at the same time during the summer months.

There will be a new student Leave of Absence program for students attending post secondary studies. This will allow these students to take a LOA for periods of up to 4 months to attend their studies without losing their seniority.

Union negotiating committee:

Christine Fitzgerald #132, Rita-Lynn Swiderski #421, George Lacasse #245, Robin Wilson #453, Gregg Boyachuk #425, Stephen Maunder # 26, Linda Souliere #   181, Tony Morello #178, Marylou Mallett #140, Tracy Lovejoy #204, Rick Alagierski #461.

Shawn Haggerty -President, Kelly Tosato-Secretary-Treasurer, Sylvia Groom-Executive Assistant, John DiNardo-Director, Colleen Cox-Representative, Tim Kelly-Representative and Amanda Nagy-Representative.