Metro workers end strike at Etobicoke distribution centre, negotiate 'significant wage gains'
Agreement ‘will raise the bar for warehouse workers across
Ontario,’ says Unifor Ontario regional director
The ratification of a new collective agreement with "significant wage gains" has brought to an end a weeklong strike among more than 900 full-time workers at Metro's Etobicoke warehouse distribution centre.
Workers went on strike on April 2, after voting to reject a tentative agreement.
The full-time employees work at a distribution centre that supplies products to grocery stores across southern Ontario along the Kingston-Windsor corridor, according to a statement from Unifor. The union said its members had been without a contract for six months.
This new deal, ratified on Friday, is valid for 4.5 years, according to separate press releases from Unifor and Metro Ontario Inc.
It will see workers receive an hourly wage increase of $2.25 in the first year of the deal, which includes retroactive pay back to October 2021.
The average wage is expected to increase by nearly 16 per cent over the entire 4.5-year deal.
"This collective agreement achieves the best maximum pay rate and fastest progression in the industry," Unifor Ontario regional director Naureen Rizvi said in a statement. "There is no doubt it will raise the bar for warehouse workers across Ontario."
Carmen Fortino, a senior vice-president with Metro Ontario Inc., said in a statement: "We are pleased to have reached what we believe is a fair and reasonable outcome."
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