Welland city workers ratify new four-year contract

WELLAND, ON –/COMMUNITYWIRE/– Welland city workers, represented by Local 1115 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE 1115) have ratified a tentative agreement that was reached late Monday evening.

The four-year agreement covers the period of January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2024 and will see a 7.5 per cent wage increase over the life of the agreement. The agreement also contains a letter of understanding that the city and the union will establish a Pandemic Committee with representatives from both sides to work on issues that may arise in the event that a pandemic is declared. The agreement does not contain any reductions to the employee short term disability plan.

“The most important thing here is that the members of CUPE 1115 will continue to deliver services to the people of Welland without disruption,” said Steve Leavitt, representative for CUPE 1115. “It may have taken some time to get there, but we were able to negotiate a decent contract that protects existing contract provisions and the members voted for it by a fairly significant margin.”

CUPE 1115 conducted an online ratification vote on Wednesday where 89 per cent of respondents voted in favour of ratifying the agreement. 

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For more information:

Matthew Stella, CUPE Communications, 613-252-4377, mstella@cupe.ca