South Country Co-op grocery workers in Taber agree to new deal

South Country Co-op grocery workers in Taber will not receive a pay rate increase in a new four-year contract but instead $500 per year lump-sum payments, according to new collective bargaining summary provided by Alberta’s labour ministry.

About 85 workers in that town, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers No. 401, ratified the pact on Sept. 10 to replace a contract that expired in February 2019.

The much larger bargaining unit in Medicine Hat, comprising 355 grocery clerks, cashiers, meat and deli workers and gas bar attendants saw their contract expire in July 2020.

The new contract in Taber expires in early 2023, meaning the first year’s payment will be retroactive.

In other contract settlements of note in the southeast portion of the province, the County of Newell secured a one-year wage freeze in its new deal with the Canadian Union of Public employees, Local No. 1032.

The new deal, involving 18 county workers runs through 2024 and provides annual raises of 1, 2, and 2 per cent during the final three years, respectively.

The City of Calgary and its electricians also agreed to a largely retroactive threeyear that expires in March 2021. It provides only a 1.5 per cent increase in the final year after two years of a wage freeze.

The workers are represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local No. 254, which deals largely with publicly owned utility companies, including power and water plants in Medicine Hat.