LONG SAULT – The Township of South Stormont has reached a three-year agreement with its unionized staff.
Council ratified the collective agreement by resolution last month that will see workers get a retroactive pay increase of 1.7 per cent for 2020 and increases of 0.7 per cent this year and 1.5 per cent in 2022.
Employees with CUPE Local 4219 had been without a contract since March 2020.
CAO Debi LucasSwitzer told council the contract was finalized in January after negotiations started in December – delayed by the pandemic.
“We were quite pleased that we were able to bring in a very reasonable collective agreement that included changes that management was looking for with respect to wording changes for clarification and ease of use,” LucasSwitzer.
In return, the workers received a “slight increase” in their clothing allowance, in addition to the wage increases, LucasSwitzer said.
“Overall, it was a reasonably good experience,” she added.
Retroactive pay should be doled out by the middle of April.
The agreement covers customer service representatives, water and sewer operators, recreation facilities operators, mechanics, public works lead hands and others.
At the end of the last contract, hourly wages ranged from $21.44 for the customer service representative to $29.10 for a lead hand drainage superintendent.
A phone call to CUPE requesting comment from a Local 4219 representative was acknowledged but not returned.