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J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport comes to new agreement with maintenance workers
SYDNEY — The Sydney Airport Authority and maintenance workers at J.A. Douglas McCurdy Sydney Airport have come to a new collective agreement.
The agreement ratified on Wednesday includes pay increases of 2.15 per cent, retroactive to 2017; 2.25 per cent, retroactive to 2018; 2.30 per cent this year; 2.35 per cent in 2020; and 2.50 per cent in 2021.
A key detail of the agreement is the recognition of the “critical firefighting duties the workers perform,” according to a press release issued by Union of Canadian Transportation Employees Local 80807, the union which represents the employees.
The workers had been without a collective agreement since December 2017. The union, which is part of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, had said that one of the main stumbling blocks in negotiations was the use of the term “firefighter.”
The union maintained the workers, who mostly perform maintenance duties but volunteered to be trained as emergency firefighters, deserve the title, a bump in hourly wage, and an employee assistance program.
An employee assistance program and an increase in the employer’s contribution to an employee’s RRSP are also part of the new deal.
Other major gains, according to the union, include improvements to vacation leave, better rates for meals and mileage while on airport travel, reimbursement in the cost of safety boots and standby rates of pay.
New to the agreement is a provision that provides workers with protection and legal representation if any lawsuit is brought against the airport and its employees.