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AltaSteel Workers Ratify Agreement with Scaw Metals
08/20/2007 - Members of United Steelworkers' Local 5220 ratify a new collective agreement with AltaSteel Ltd. - the first agreement reached with South-Africa-based parent company, Scaw Metals Group.
Members of the United Steelworkers' (USW) Local 5220 have ratified a new collective agreement with AltaSteel Ltd. of the Scaw Metals Group.
The agreement includes wage increases averaging 17.5% over three years plus a $3 increases in the basic pension to $61 by Aug. 1, 2009. Group insurance, long-term disability, vision care, and orthodontics benefits have been improved, and a massage and physiotherapy benefit of $400 per year per family has also been included.
All pensioners are guaranteed a minimum of 2% indexing in each year of the agreement, and all retirees and surviving spouses of workers who retired prior to Aug. 1 2004 will receive lump-sum payments of $500 at the end of 2007 and 2008.
The new agreement offers increased opportunities for skills development, with nine new apprenticeships added. The contract also includes language stressing 'zero tolerance' as the goal for preventing harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
"This agreement sets the parties up for moving forward and for the company to carry on with capital investment," said Local 5220 President Paul Perreault.
Formerly part of the Stelco chain, AltaSteel was purchased by South-Africa-based Scaw Metals in early 2006. This is the first agreement reached with the new company. The parties reached a tentative deal at the beginning of August, and voting on the agreement took place over the last two weeks.
The United Steelworkers is Canada's most diverse union, representing more than 280,000 men and women working in every sector of Canada's economy.
