The major highlights of the settlement approved by a majority of GSU Local 14 members are summarized below:
- The new collective agreement is for a term of three (3) years commencing Jan. 1, 2019 and expiring Dec. 31, 2021.
- The new agreement provides for aggregate general wage increases of 2.75% on Jan. 1, 2019, 2.60% on Jan. 1, 2020 and 2.6% on Jan. 1, 2021, Employees receiving a “Meets” annual performance review rating shall receive a guaranteed minimum annual wage increase of 2% with further increases based on an employees demonstrated performance for the previous year. The minimum and maximums of the annual salary ranges will be increased by 2% in each year of the three-year agreement.
- The settlement provides that the Ag Retail Manager 1/11/111 position will be re-titled to Crop Inputs Manager which will be excluded from the scope of the bargaining unit. The current incumbents will be provided a one-time option to either remain in the union bargaining unit or to accept a Crop Inputs Manager position at their current location and go out-of-scope. If an incumbent employee chooses to remain in the union bargaining unit the Company will facilitate their transfer to a new in-scope role at their current location, salary and salary grade, including wage increases and all of the other rights and benefits of being covered by the collective agreement.
- The new agreement provides for modest improvement to the annual safety boot allowance, a new maternity leave EI top-up benefit, new family related leaves of absence, and a 50 cents per hour increase to the Weekend Differential.
The settlement terms do not address all of the bargaining priorities identified by union members. However, as shown by the results of the members’ ratification vote the settlement was regarded as a fair compromise and is significantly better than current collective bargaining settlement trends in Saskatchewan.