National Steel Car workers ratify new deal, end 41-day strike

CBC
Wed, August 9, 2023 

Frank Crowder, United Steelworkers Local 7135 president, stands outside National Steel Car, workers picketed since June 29. (Samantha Beattie/CBC - image credit)

A new deal between National Steel Car and its workers has been ratified, officially marking the end of a 41-day strike at the rail car maker.

A press release from the Local 7135 of the United Steelworkers union (USW) says workers voted for a new contract that will include a 13 per cent wage increase over three years, with six per cent in the first year and a $1,000 signing bonus.

Members in the skilled trades will also get an extra one dollar per hour wage increase in each of the first and third years of the contract, the union says.

The new collective agreement will also add another health and safety representative at the workplace and will improve other health and safety provisions.

Other improvements, the union says, includes changes to the defined-benefit and defined-contribution pension plans, and increases in shift premiums, dental care, vision care and safety boots allowances.

"We believe that we achieved what we were looking for," Frank Crowder, president of USW Local 7135, said.

"We went out with only a 52 per cent majority in favour of a strike, but our presence on the picket line was 100 per cent."

Some 1,475 workers went on strike on June 29, calling on higher wages and improved safety, Crowder previously said.

The union said maintenance workers will head back to work immediately to conduct inspections of the plant, while the remainder of union members will return to work on Monday, Aug. 14.