Contract ratified. Workers at Presteve Foods in Wheatley have voted 83 per cent in favour of a new three-year deal. Unifor Local 444 represents the workers at the fish processing plant. Secretary-Treasurer Manny Cardoso says the deal includes wage increases, benefit improvements, a signing bonus, and language improvements. He says the bargaining committee did really well for the workers. “They bargained wage increases upwards of 15 per cent over three years for the hourly,” he says. “A lot of the workers, half of the workers there are pieceworkers; they cut fish, so their increases are different; they go by pound, cents per pound, but they both did very well. We really increased our benefits, tripled some of the amounts, as in dental coverage and stuff, so they were very happy with the agreement.” Cardoso says most of the talks between the union and company are courteous. “We work well with the company,” says Cardoso. “They’re very understanding. They do want to ensure that they keep the workforce happy. It is a tough industry to work in and an industry that’s facing a lot of challenges, especially with the fishing quotas being cut.” He says the Wheatley plant is the largest freshwater fishing processing plant in North America. “They’ve amalgamated a couple of the plants they’ve owned,” says Cardoso. “There was a Kingsville plant that was brought in; a few years ago they spent quite a bit of money expanding the facility and investing in new machinery that was ergonomically more friendly but more efficient, better yields.” The union represents close to 100 unionized workers at the Erie Street South plant. Cardoso says the plant also has some seasonal temporary workers.
