The union representing roughly 820 workers at Grand River Transit in Ontario has ratified a new three-year collective agreement that includes benefits and wage gains.
The agreement includes increasing coverage for eyeglasses from $450 to $550 and adding speech pathologists and osteopaths to the list of covered paramedical practitioners. In addition, while the benefits previously ended when plan members reached age 67, the new agreement extends the plan to age 75.
Workers will also see wage increases over the three years of the agreement, with $1 per hour plus 2.5 per cent in the first year, then two per cent increases in the second and third years.
Read: Grand River Transit, Unifor agreement includes benefits gains, bereavement leave
In other news, the union representing school bus drivers for Stock Transportation in Toronto has ratified a new three-year collective agreement that includes wage gains and protection around artificial intelligence surveillance.
The agreement includes across-the-board wage increases in each year of the three-year deal, with additional wage improvements for driver trainers.
It also includes a new letter of agreement governing the company’s shift to a different camera and monitoring platform. Among other things, the letter establishes that automated alerts, risk scores and AI-generated driver ratings can’t be the sole basis for discipline; requires investigation and review of actual footage before any action is taken; restricts access to footage; and limits live viewing.