Trochu Meats -Weekly Guarantee

Hi, over the last several days, Union Representatives have been calling you as we prepare for the upcoming vote so you can stay members of UFCW Local 401.  

 We want to use some of the time before the vote to explain what a collective agreement(union contract) is and what you and your co-workers gain by having a union contract.   

 Labour collective bargaining is the process of negotiation between an organized collective of workers and their employers. Your contract will expire at the end of this year and needs renegotiating.   

 A collective agreement is a written contract that sets out the rights, for unionized workers, at Sunterra Foods in Trochu.  

Your Union Collective Agreement has articles that protect your rights, such as:  

• A safe work environment  
• A weekly guarantee of pay 
• Dignity and fairness for workers  
• Paid bereavement time off to grieve  
• Job security 
• Wages that cannot be lowered if the company wants to (many companies are lowering peoples’ wages during the Covid pandemic, with a Union contract, this cannot happen)  
• Paid doctor’s notes; and  
• Pay for higher-skilled jobs 

An example of an article in your collective agreement is “Article 6 – Weekly Guarantee.” 

This article says that you will get a weekly guarantee of 36 hours, but that Trochu Meats can change this to 32 hours, but only ten times in a year, and that they must notify you of the change by Friday, a week before the change. 

The guarantee only applies to full-time employees who work on the first scheduled day of the workweek. And the guarantee can be reduced by facility operation shutdowns such as equipment breakdowns, loss of power, or water supply loss. 

The guarantee of hours means that you have a minimum of 32 hours a week unless there is a breakdown, power, or water loss. 

We were recently informed that this article has recently been of issue, and we are talking to your employer to resolve it. If you think you haven’t been paid appropriately, bring a picture of your relevant pay stub and give it to your shop steward so we have a record and can seek reimbursement.  

Your current agreement expires on December 31 of this year, but does not end until you vote on a new Union contract. We will be asking for you to give suggestions of changes you want to see in your workplace. You have a say in your workplace as a Union worker. At this time, we will work hard with your help to refine and improve the contract language to an even more advantageous contract. 

In our next communication, we will be reaching out to discuss why you are voting again this week. If you have any questions, call your Union representative. Tony Evangelista can be reached at 403.588.5990 or by email at tevangelista@ufcw401.ab.ca.