CUPE Local #65 members who make up the staff at the Fort Frances and District Association for Community Living, as well as the ACL’s board of management, both voted in favour yesterday of ratifying a tentative agreement struck Dec. 5.
CUPE Local #65 president Gwen Miller said this morning she was pleased with the membership’s vote, which was 100 percent in favour of the deal.
“The [negotiating] committee was recommending voting in favour of it, and the membership agreed,” she remarked. “It’s a good deal.”^Miller noted the four-year deal— which is retroactive to July 1, 2002 and elapses June 30, 2006—includes a 10 percent hike in wages over four years as well as slight increases in pension and benefits.
“We felt the negotiations went really well,” concluded Miller.
The roughly 65 union workers there had been working without a contract since July 1, 2002.
Miller said there was a number of factors as to why a new contract wasn’t worked out earlier, including waiting to see if the new provincial government would earmark more funding for services such as ACL.
While it is known the ACL’s board also voted in favour of the deal, executive director Alanna Barr could not be reached for comment by press time today.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
