On Jan. 6 it was announced that CIBC will pay $153 million to approximately 30,000 current and former employees to settle a class action law suit over the bank allowing/requiring employees to work unpaid overtime.

While settlement of the law suit is good news for the employees involved, it is noteworthy that the class action was commenced in 2007 and originally sought $500 million in compensation for affected employees.

Unionized employees do not have to hire lawyers, commence class action law suits or wait 16 years for results when they’ve been wrongfully denied employment rights like payment for overtime work. Unionized employees have access to a grievance/arbitration procedure through their union at no extra cost.

GSU provides effective employee representation and grievance action to defend the workplace rights of union members.

“Over the years millions of dollars in wages and benefits have been recovered for GSU members through active utilization of the grievance/arbitration process,” said GSU general secretary Hugh Wagner. “Processing grievances and taking them to arbitration takes time, but nothing remotely close to the years piled up in the CIBC class action suit”

If you and your co-workers are interested in joining a union, reach out to us to learn more.